For the second straight day, Pakistan’s hardline leader and Chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Maulana Fazlur Rehman had a narrow escape when a suicide bomber targeted his motorcade in northwest Pakistan killing at least eight people and injuring 29 others.

The bomber struck just after 57-year-old Rehman’s motorcade entered Charsadda town in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, where he was to address a gathering at Darul Uloom Islamia seminary.

The powerful blast occurred near a government office and a private school. Eight persons, including four policemen and a woman, were killed while 29 others, including security personnel and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam workers, were injured. Geo News channel quoted police as saying that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber.