Many dead and injured in Pakistan bomb attack
At least 15 people killed and dozens injured after explosion at a Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam rally in Kurram Agency.
Last Modified: 06 May 2013 13:51
At least 15 people have been killed and dozens injured after an explosion during a rally in Kurram Agency for a Pakistani political party.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) candidate Munir Orakzai is thought to have survived the bomb attack, which happened on Monday.
A government administrator for the remote region where the explosion took place said at least 50 people were injured in the attack, but that two party leaders escaped unhurt. He said that the bomb was planted inside the building that was the venue for the rally of two national assembly candidates representing the JUI faction led by cleric Fazul-ur-Rehman.
One of the candidates, Munir Orakzai, escaped unhurt while the other, Ain u Din Shakir, was slightly injured, he said.
It was the first deadly attack on a political party in the tribal belt since campaigning began for what will be the country's first democratic transition of power after a civilian government has completed a full term in office.
Pakistan's interim prime minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso strongly condemned the attack and said another national assembly candidate had been injured.
Repeated calls for candidates to be granted more security have failed to stop a wave of attacks, most of them claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest blast. The tribal belt is a stronghold of Islamist militants and Kurram has been dogged by sectarian violence between Pakistan's Sunni Muslim majority and Shia minority.
The Pakistani Taliban have condemned the elections as un-Islamic and directly threatened the main parties in the outgoing coalition, the Pakistan People's Party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Awami National Party.
But Rehman and his JUI faction have been a mediator between the authorities and the insurgent group. The Taliban have been blamed for killing thousands of Pakistanis in a domestic insurgency over the last six years.
Elections have been postponed in three constituencies, in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, in Pakistan's biggest city of Karachi and in the southern city of Hyderabad, where candidates have been killed.
Source: Al Jazeera And Agencies
