MARDAN, Pakistan, June 18 (UPI) -- Police in Pakistan were trying to determine if a suicide bombing Tuesday that killed 20 mourners at a funeral was aimed at one victim, a provincial legislator.
The funeral in Mardan, a small city 85 miles northwest of Islamabad in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, was for a man who was gunned down Monday, USA Today reported. Imran Mohmand, an independent who was elected to the provincial assembly May 11, was among those killed.
Jafar Khan, an official in the Mardan police, said several officers providing security at the funeral were also killed.
No claim of responsibility has been made for the Mardan bombing. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a militant group with ties to the Pakistani Taliban, says it was responsible for an attack during the weekend in Quetta that killed 25 people at a hospital and on a women's bus.
"Police here are already on high alert," said Shaukat Yousafzai, provincial information minister in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. "But stopping suicide attacks is very difficult, and we're doing what we can to bring peace to the province. We don't want any more bloodshed."
