132 die in election violence; former premier arrested
LAHORE, Pakistan — The deadliest attacks in Pakistan’s troubled election campaign killed at least 132 people, including a candidate on Friday just before the arrest of disgraced former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif upon his return to the country.
In the southwestern province of Baluchistan, a suicide bomber killed 128 people, including a politician running for a provincial legislature. Four others died in a strike in Pakistan’s northwest, spreading panic in the country.
The attacks came hours before Sharif returned from London along with his daughter Maryam to face a 10-year prison sentence on corruption charges, anticorruption officials said. Maryam Sharif faces seven years in jail.
He was taken into custody to serve his sentence, however he is expected to appeal and seek bail. It wasn’t clear when his appeal would be filed but he has until Monday. Sharif ’s son-in-law is currently serving a oneyear prison sentence on the same charge, which stems from the purchase of luxury apartments in Britain that the court said were bought with illegally acquired money.
In the southern town of Mastung, candidate Siraj Raisani and 127 others died when a suicide bomber blew himself up amid scores of supporters who had gathered at a rally.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement carried on its Aamaq news agency. The group gave no reason for the bombing that killed Raisani, who was running for the election on the Baluchistan Awami Party ticket.
It was the second election-related violence on Friday. The first explosion in the northwestern town of Bannu targeted candidate Akram Khan Durrani — a politician from an Islamit party, who escaped unhurt. The blast killed four people and wounded 20, police said.