PESHAWAR Former provincial minister and sitting District Nazim of Hangu Ghani-ur-Rahman and his three gunmen were killed when a roadside remote-controlled explosive device hit his vehicle in Bagtu area of Hangu on Sunday afternoon. The blast occurred when former minister was on his way along with his three bodyguards, and all the persons on board were badly injured and later succumbed to their injuries on the way to hospital, sources informed. Talking to journalists, Commissioner Kohat Khalid Umar has confirmed the deaths of Ghani-ur-Rehman and his three gunmen. Ghani, who was also father of sitting MPA Attiq-ur-Rahman from PF-42, served as an irrigation minister in the cabinet of former chief minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao. Agencies add: A suspected Taliban bomb attack targeted a former provincial cabinet minister on Sunday, killing him and three other people in Hangu, police said. The bomb exploded in Bagto village, about 10 kilometres from the town of Hangu in an area with a history of sectarian clashes. Four people, including Ghani-ur Rehman have died in the attack, Hangu city police chief Abdul Rashid Khan told AFP. The other three are a bodyguard, his driver and a friend, he added. A controversial figure, Rehman was once irrigation minister in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and a former mayor of Hangu. He spent time in jail under the previous military regime and was one of the beneficiaries of National Reconciliation Ordinance - scrapped by the Supreme Court last month - that protected 8,000 politicians, businessmen and officials from corruption charges. His son, a member of parliament in NWFP, blamed the Taliban and other extremists for his fathers assassination. My father was targeted twice before. Taliban and militant groups are involved in this attack, Ateeq-ur Rehman told AFP. It was a remote-controlled roadside bomb blast. High-intensity explosives were used. The vehicle was completely destroyed, police spokesman Fazal Naeem told AFP by telephone. Bagto village is close to Orakzai, home of Hakimullah Mehsud - head of the countrys main Taliban faction - and one of the seven districts that make up the semi-autonomous tribal belt. The blast follows a bloody week that included a suicide bombing at a volleyball game in Lakki Marwat that killed at least 99 people, and a suicide bombing at Ashura procession that killed 44 people in Karachi. The latter was claimed by the Taliban, who are waging a campaign to topple the government.