. >> reporter: the attack took place as shuja khanzada hosted a meeting in his home. local volunteers worked with special rescue teams who brought in heavy machinery to help in the difficult task of removing debris including huge concrete slabs once part of the building's roof. >> reporter: the explosion was very loud. after a while i knew the blast ha targeted the home minister. i saw men working here rescuing bodies and the injured. then the police arrived. >> reporter: khanzada was a retired mill marry and was leading a crackdown against groups responsible for a spate of sectarian attacks in punjab. his name was on the hit list on one group al qaeda affiliated. the leader and two sons were killed in a recent police operation. the punjab government condemned sunday's attack and announced a three-day mourning period. >>> let's bring in a pakistani journalist based in london with me now in the studio. how successful had the minister who has been assassinated and those working with him been in trying to take on extremists in that part of punjab? >> the main focus of th

shuja khanzada was the home minister for the province of punjab.a taliban-linked militant group has claimed responsibility, calling the attack retaliation for military efforts against the group. the syrian observatory for human rights says a syrian government airstrike northeast of damascus has killed 96 people, making it among the deadliest attacks in t$e four-year-long civil war. the strike hit a market in the rebel held area of douma. hundreds were reportedly wounded. italian and norwegian authorities have discovered the bodies of 49 migrants who appear to have asphyxiated to death in the hold of an overcrowded fishing boat as they tried to cross the mediterranean to europe. more than 300 people on deck were rescued, but those in the hold died amid exhaust fumes and heat. the war in syria has helped fuel the worst refugee crisis since world war ii. this year trying to reach europe by boat. in iraq, a parliamentary panel has called for former iraqi prime minister nouri al-maliki and dozens of other officials to face trial for the fall of the city