Islamabad, Dec 1 (DPA) A suicide bomber killed an anti-Taliban provincial lawmaker in Pakistan’s restive Swat valley Tuesday, police said.
Shamsher Ali, a member of the regional assembly in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, was meeting guests at his house in the Kanju town when the attacker detonated his explosives.

“Mr Shamsher was killed at the scene while at least 15 people were wounded,” Swat’s police chief Ghulam Farooq said.

Hospital authorities said Ali’s brother was among four people critically injured in the bombing that took place when a crowd was exchanging greetings with the politician after the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha celebrated over the weekend.

Television footage showed pools of blood and other debris across the courtyard of the house, with a severely damaged car parked under a shed.

Ali belonged to the secular Awami National Party, which is running a coalition government in the troubled province. He openly condemned the Taliban and supporting the military operations to quell the insurgency.

The attack Tuesday was the latest in a string of bombings against government, military and civilian targets, which have killed more than 350 people since October.