(AKI) - A Pakistani party leader, who narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in a suicide attack, said on Friday that local Taliban had denied their involvement in the crime.Leader of the Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party, Asfandyar Wali Khan, said local Taliban had blamed foreign militants for the attack that killed four people near Charsada in the North West Frontier Province on Thursday. "It is not our work rather it is the work of foreign elements," he quoted local Taliban as saying.
According to the official agency, Associated Press of Pakistan, Asfandyar Wali Khan told a TV channel that local Taliban had indicated that there was a rift among the militants operating in tribal areas.
Asfandyar was meeting guests at his residence in his native town of Wali Bagh near Charsada on the second day of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that marks the end of the holy fast of Ramadan, when the attack occurred.
The suicide attacker and three others were killed in the bombing, while Asfandyar Wali was moved to a safe location.
The ANP chief reaffirmed his commitment to fight the menace of terrorism in a more effective manner, saying such cowardly acts would not deter the party from working to ensure peace and stability in the country. "War against terrorism is our own. It is not the war of America," he said.
He said terrorists were targeting innocent people of Pakistan and wanted to create unrest and instability in the country.