Shaukat Aziz

The death toll from the July 30 suicide bomb attack on Shaukat Aziz, meanwhile, rose to eight, with about three dozen injured.

The attack on Aziz, the finance minister tapped to become the nation's next prime minister, occurred as the 60-year-old politician left a rally in Fateh Jang, a town 55 km southwest of the capital Islamabad.

It came hours after Pakistan announced the capture of a senior al-Qaeda terrorist, and a day after Pakistan acknowledged it was considering sending troops to Iraq.

Islamic militants are enraged at President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's support for the U.S.-led war on terror. Al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri called for his assassination in a tape released earlier this year, and several homegrown militant groups have been implicated in plots to kill him.

The Japan Times Weekly: Aug. 7, 2004
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