A bomb tore through a Pakistani election rally Monday, killing at least three people and wounding 45 others in a town in the country’s northwestern tribal belt, an official said.
The attack brings to 72 the number of people killed in attacks targeting politicians and political parties since April 11 ahead of Pakistan’s general elections on Saturday, according to an AFP tally.
The explosion targeted a rally for the right-wing Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, a religious party in the outgoing government coalition in Kurram, one of the seven districts making up Pakistan’s Taliban-infested tribal belt on the Afghan border.
“Three people have died and 45 are injured. Eleven of them are in a critical condition,” Riaz Khan, the top administrative official in Kurram, told AFP.
He said the bomb had been planted inside the building where a candidate running for the national assembly was speaking to supporters.
Doctor Najeeb Khan from the main hospital in Kurram tribal district initially said two people had been killed, but warned that others were in a critical condition.
It was the first deadly attack on a political party in Pakistan’s tribal belt since campaigning began for Pakistan’s polls, which mark a historic democratic transition in a country ruled by the military for half its life.
Kurram is frequently the scene of sectarian violence between Pakistan’s Sunni Muslim majority and Shiite minority.
Bomb kills three at Pakistan election rally
