Attack on Aide of Pakistani Prime Minister Kills 5

A bomb attack targeting an aide of the Pakistan's prime minister killed five people in a northern area on Sunday, police said.

The bomb exploded in the Shangla area near the convoy of Amir Muqam, a cabinet aide and former parliamentarian, said Deputy Inspector General Abdullah Khan.

Muqam escaped unhurt, but the blast killed two police and his three private guards, Khan said.

Shangla is part of the scenic Swat valley that local Taliban militants captured before an army offensive drove them out in 2009.

Swat Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah escaped to neighboring Afghanistan. He was selected to lead the Pakistani Taliban after a suspected U.S. missile strike killed his predecessor in late 2013.

The militants have killed thousands of Pakistani civilians, security forces and government officials in a campaign of bombings, suicide and gun attacks they hope will bring down the state and allow them to impose their own extreme interpretation of Islamic law.

After attending a local tribal meeting, Muqam was headed back to Mingora, the capital of Swat valley, when two bombs exploded near his convoy, said Khan, the police officer.

He said it was not clear whether both or one of them were suicide attacks.

Muqam told local Geo News TV that it was the sixth such attack against him in recent years. He didn't name the militants directly but said that "the terrorists" wouldn't win. "Such attacks can't stop me from siding with the truth."

The ruling party of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had been favoring peace negotiations with the militants since he assumed office in mid-2013. The Taliban had agreed to talks under strict preconditions but rejected them after a U.S. missile strike killed Fazlullah's predecessor, Hakimullah Mehsud.

Since Fazlullah took over as Pakistani Taliban chief, there has been a comparative lull in militant attacks. The most recent one was on Jan. 9, when a suicide car bomber in Karachi killed the head of the southern city's anti-terrorism police unit, known for hunting down militants.