Pakistan: Bomb blast at election rally kills 4, injures 14
At least four people were killed and 14 others, including a senior leader of an Islamist party, injured today in a bomb blast in an election rally in Pakistan's Peshawar, the third attack on a political rally ahead of the July 25 general elections. Former federal minister and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) central leader Akram Durrani received minor injuries in the blast in Bannu district.
The explosives were fitted to a motorbike which exploded close to Durrani's vehicle, who is the candidate of Muttahida Majlis e Amal (MMA), a political alliance consisting of conservative, Islamist and religious parties. The blast took place around 40m away from the venue of a public meeting. The injured have been shifted to a hospital where five are stated to be in critical condition.
On July 10, senior secular leader of the Awami National Party (ANP) Haroon Bilour and 19 others were killed when a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up in an election rally in Peshawar. Earlier this month, seven people including a candidate of the MMA were injured in an explosion during an election rally near Takhtikhel in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
