Famous Pushto poet and a former Member National Assembly, late Ajmal Khattak’s under-construction mausoleum on Grand Trunk (GT) road, Akora Khattak area of Nowshera, was badly damaged after it came under a bomb attack from unknown militants on Wednesday evening.

No loss of life was reported in the incident, and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack thus far.

Police have arrested the guard of the building and are currently interrogating him.

Police said that initially five armed people approached the under construction building of the mausoleum and over-powered the guard. He was tied with a rope before the armed men placed explosive devices inside the building which went off with a big bang. Up to 80 per cent of the mausoleum was damaged.

“They were five people who came to the area and planted bombs there and fled the area after the explosion,” said a police official of the local police station.

The provincial government had provided a Rs10 million grant for the construction of building at the grave of late Ajmal Khattak. The grave is situated along the main Grand Trunk (GT) road in a graveyard.

They said that the move was aimed at creating unrest among the local people.

Ajmal Khattak was the former president of Awami National Party (ANP) and a former MNA. He died of illness on February 7, 2010 in Peshawar.

Last month, an anonymous threatening letter was found at the shrine of Sakhi Sarwar in Dera Ghazi Khan which warned of ‘dire consequences’ if some rituals were not abolished. Security was beefed up after the letter was received.

Similarly, a letter was received last year followed by two terrorist attacks at the shrine that killed more than 55 people and injured over 150. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan had claimed responsibility for the attacks.