PESHAWAR - A Taliban faction claimed responsibility on Tuesday for planting a bomb under the car of a senior journalist and TV anchorman and threatened a second assassination bid.
The journalist, who hosts talk shows on a private TV channel and writes column, was criticised by the Taliban last month in the wake of the shooting of teenage activist Malala Yousafzai. “Life and death is in the hands of Allah. Allah saved his life but we will make a similar attempt again,” Tehreek-e-Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an unknown location.
“The journalist earlier shot into prominence for working in the interest of Islam and Muslims. We targeted him because now he is working against Islam and Muslims,” he said.
Police said the device - half a kilogram of explosives fitted with a detonator - was found stuck under his car in Islamabad on Monday. Interior Minister Rehman Malik offered a cash reward of 50 million rupees ($500,000) for anyone with information about who was responsible for the powerful bomb.