90 killed in blast at Pak rally ahead of elections
Peshawar/Karachi, July 13: At least 90 people, including a top nationalist leader, were killed and over 180 others injured on Friday as powerful bomb blasts targeted two separate election rallies in Pakistan, the deadliest in a string of attacks on candidates ahead of the July 25 polls.
Militants targeted a gathering of the Balochistan Awami Party leader Siraj Raisani in Mastung area of Balochistan province.
Raisani is the brother of former CM of Baloc-histan, Nawab Aslam Raisani. The nature of the attack was not known and police and Intelligence agencies were trying of figure out if it was a suicide bombing.
Quetta, Pakistan, July 13: The death toll in a suicide bombing in southwestern Pakistan Friday jumped to 90, an official said, the deadliest in a string of attacks on political rallies that have raised security fears ahead of nationwide polls on July 25.
The blast in the town of Mastung, near the Balochistan provincial capital Quetta, came hours after another bomb killed at least four people at a campaign rally in Bannu in the country’s northwest.
The attacks underscored the fragility of Pakistan’s dramatic improvement in security and raised fears ahead of the vote.
“Death toll has risen to 85,” Balochistan health minister Faiz Kakar said, adding that were more than 100 wounded.
Earlier he had said 70 people were killed.
A Reuters report said Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing at an election rally in southwestern Pakistan, the group’s AMAQ news agency said on Friday.
The group provided no further detail or evidence for its claim.
According to senior provincial official Saeed Jamali, the bomber detonated in the middle of a compound where a political meeting was taking place. Another senior official, Qaim Lashari, also confirmed it had been a suicide blast.
The explosion killed Siraj Raisani, who was running for a provincial seat with the newly formed Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), provincial home minister Agha Umar Bungalzai told AFP.
“Mir Siraj Raisani succumbed to wounds while he was being shifted to Quetta,” he added. Raisani was the younger brother of former provincial chief minister Mir Aslam Raisani.
The explosion comes hours after four people were killed and 39 injured when a bomb hidden inside a motorcycle detonated near a Pakistani politician’s convoy in Bannu on Friday. — Agencies
I.S. claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing
THE EXPLOSION killed Siraj Raisani, who was running for a provincial seat with the newly formed Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), provincial home minister Agha Umar Bungalzai said.