Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Eight people were killed Monday after a suicide bomber rammed a truck packed with explosives into the home of a senior police official, authorities said. Six officers who were stationed as guards were killed in the attack, along with a mother and a girl as they were walking to the girl's school, said Shoukat Ali, a senior Karachi police official. The house was badly damaged, but the intended target of the attack -- Chaudhry Aslam -- is safe, said Jamil Khan, a Karachi police official.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which police said involved a pickup truck stuffed with more than 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of explosive material. Ihsanullah Ihsan, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, told CNN by phone that Aslam was the target of the explosion."Aslam has killed and arrested lots of our mujahidin and will have to face the consequences," Ihsan said.
"Mujahidin" refers to militants fighting against the Pakistani state and who are often affiliated with radical Islam.Ihsan said the explosion is also a message to officials who work against the Taliban and alongside the United States."All pro-U.S. security officials are ... our target," Ihsan said. But Aslam said he was "not afraid of this coward attack by Taliban," appearing on national news channels and vowing to continue the fight against the militants.
"I have been receiving threats from the Taliban for a long time," the police official said. "I have been defeating Taliban (militants) by arresting them, and will continue until I have last drop of blood in my body." Aslam added, "I will give (the) Taliban a lesson which even their children will remember forever." Sindh province Police Chief Wajid Durrani said Aslam has arrested numerous militants who, after interrogation, provided information that led to the arrests of other militants.
"All the officials who are working against militants have threats," Durrani said.
