Pakistan militants attack lawmaker’s home, kill 8

Militants used rockets and a bomb to attack the family home of a lawmaker in Pakistan’s volatile northwest early Monday, killing eight people including the politician’s brother, police said.

Meanwhile, Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik announced a ban on the country’s umbrella Taliban group, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

The militants targeted the Swat Valley residence of provincial lawmaker Waqar Ahmed Khan of the ruling Awami National Party. Khan confirmed that his brother, two nephews and several guards died in the attack on the compound, belonging to him and his extended family.

Pakistan’s Taliban movement has claimed responsibility for a handful of devastating suicide bombings in recent days, calling them revenge for military offensives in Swat, once a tourist destination, and the northwest Bajur tribal region.

A peace deal struck between provincial lawmakers and militants in Swat appears to be in tatters amid continuing fighting.

The military operations come amid as country’s federal ruling coalition appears on the brink of collapse, raising concerns in Washington about the government’s ability to stay focused on eradicating militants in its borders.

The US worries that pockets of Pakistan’s northwest have become safe zones for militants who plan attacks on American and NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan.

Several rockets were used and the militants set on fire the bungalow at the Khan family’s sprawling residence in the valley’s Shah Dheri area before leaving, police officer Saifur Rehman said. He said eight people were killed.

Rehman Malik, the head of the federal Interior Ministry, told The Associated Press on Monday that the government had decided to ban the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

“This organization is a terrorist organization and created mayhem against the public life, so we decided to declare it banned,” Malik said, the country’s top civilian security official.

Malik noted that despite the peace deal, militants kept attacking security forces, burning schools and damaging public buildings.

“Anyone having link with this organization, promoting its literature and message, helping it financially or in any other way will be taken to task according to the law,” Malik said.

He said it had not been officially banned previously because the provincial government was trying to negotiate with the group.

On Thursday, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for the North West Frontier Province, said the deal remained technically intact.