Senior leader of Imran Khan's party laid to rest in Pakistan

A former provincial minister and candidate of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was today laid to rest, a day after he was killed in a suicide attack in the troubled Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

Ikramullah Gandapur, who was in fray for the provincial assembly seat from PK-99 constituency, was on his way to an election meeting when the bomber targeted his vehicle in Dera Ismail Khan district.

His driver was also killed in the attack while three bodyguards were badly injured.

Gandapur was laid to rest in his hometown Kulachi in Dera Ismail Khan.

His funeral prayers were offered at College Ground, Kulachi, Geo News reported.

He had sustained critical wounds in the suicide blast and was rushed to a Peshawar hospital by helicopter. However, he succumbed to his injuries during treatment after fighting for his life for over four hours.

Gandapur had served as the provincial agricultural minister in the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.

He was elected to the Dera Ismail Khan PK-67 seat in a by-election, after it was vacated following the death of his brother and law minister Israrullah Gandapur in a suicide attack.

Around the same time that Gandapur came under attack, Jamiat-Ulema-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Akram Khan Durrani, a former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister, also survived a second assassination attempt in less than 10 days.

This was the third attack on election candidates in Bannu district and second on Durrani ahead of the July 25 general election.

On July 13, an attack targeting JUI-F's central general secretary killed four persons and wounded as many as 39. Durrani, however, remained unhurt in the attack.

On the same day, 149 people, including a top nationalist leader, were killed and over 200 others injured in a powerful suicide blast in Mastung area in the troubled Balochistan province.

The security situation in Pakistan has deteriorated ahead of polls. The campaigning for the general election has been hit hard by terrorist attacks claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and ISIS outfits.