The home minister for Pakistan’s populous Punjab province has been killed in a suicide bombing.

An advisor on health for the Punjab provincial government, Saeed Elahi, told state-run television that Minister Shuja Khanzada is among those killed Sunday. The official death toll is nine and rescue workers say it is likely to increase.  Several people are still trapped under the rubble.

Witnesses say as many as 30 people were inside the minister’s home in the northwestern Attock district when a suicide bomber entered and detonated explosives after security guards spotted him and tried to stop him.

Dozens of people, including police officers, were buried under the rubble after the massive blast caused the building’s collapse.

Authorities say the deceased minister had been receiving threats from the Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeV), known for deadly attacks on minority Shi’ite Muslims in Pakistan. Late last month, the counterterrorism police in Punjab killed Malik Ishaq, the head of the outlawed LeV, and Home Minister Khanzada had disclosed details of the operation at a news conference.

Khanzada had been leading a recent step-up in security operations against militants linked to the Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaida in Punjab.

Authorities suspect the attack in his native village, Shadi Khan, could be in revenge for the minister’s anti-militancy campaign. 
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