PESHAWAR, Jan 30: A leader of a banned group in Khyber Agency and three other people were killed in a suicide attack on his house here on Monday.

Haji Akhunzada, 70, of the Ansarul Islam; his son-in-law Abidullah, 27; Muneeb, 25; and Abdur Rehman died and six other people suffered injuries when the suicide bomber blew himself up outside Akhunzada’s house in Pakha Ghulam area.

Superintendent of Police (City) Imtiaz Shah told Dawn that the Ansarul Islam and Lashkar-i-Islam, another militant group based in Khyber Agency, were bitter rivals.

Haji Akhunzada had survived several attempts on his life earlier and shifted to Peshawar from the tribal area. “They never demanded security from police,” the SP said.

He said many tribal people had fled their areas because of military operations or local disputes and were living in Peshawar, mostly around the Ring Road, and they avoided disclosing their identity.

An official of Pahari Pura police quoted witnesses as saying that three men on a motorbike had arrived there and two of them left after dropping the person who carried out the attack.

Relatives of the victims said three sons of Haji Akhunzada had died in previous attacks in different areas of Peshawar.

Sources at the Lady Reading Hospital said the condition of four of the injured was precarious.

A bomb disposal official said the legs and head of the bomber had been found. He said about 4kgs of explosives and 2kgs of ball bearings had been used in the attack, and the material was different from that used in previous such attacks. “The ball bearings were like those used in the cartridges of 12-bore rifle.”

The bomber’s head was found at a distance from the spot where the explosion had taken place.

Talking to reporters, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the government had hit the militants hard and restored peace in most areas of the province, but “the network of terrorists is still intact and will remain so unless Pakistan, the United States and Afghanistan devise a joint strategy and work for peace in the region”.

He said the government could not control the situation unless the terrorists were defeated in the entire region. He said the only solution was to evolve an effective joint strategy which should include dialogue.