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105 killed as suicide blast hits political meeting in SW Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, July 14, 2018 (BSS/XINHUA) – At least 105 people including a
political leader were killed and over 150 others injured when a suicide blast
hit a political meeting in Mastung district of Pakistan’s southwest
Balochistan province on Friday, officials said.
Confirming the death toll, caretaker home minister of Balochistan province
Agha Umar said that the injured people are being treated at various
hospitals.
Militant group of the Islamic State claimed the attack at its website.
Qaim Lashari, deputy commissioner of Mastung, said that target of the
explosion was political leader Nawabzada Siraj Raisani, who was attending an
election meeting in his constituency, Mastung, when the suicide bomber
targeted him.
The leader, who lost his teenager son in 2011 to terrorism, was shifted to
a hospital in neighboring provincial capital of Quetta where he succumbed to
injuries.
Raisani, a candidate of Balochistan Awami Party, was vying for a seat in
the provincial assembly.
The bomb disposal squad said that an estimated 18 to 20 kg of explosive
materials were used in the explosion.
Lashari said that the death toll is feared to further rise as 22 among the
injured people are in critical condition.
The country’s President Mamnoon Hussain, caretaker Prime Minister Nasir-ul-
Mulk and army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa condemned the attack.
Friday’s attack was the third and the deadliest attack during the recent
spate of terrorist attacks targeting political leaders who are busy in
holding meetings and addressing public gatherings ahead of general elections
to be held in the country on July 25.
The attacks left over 130 people killed and over 200 injured during the
last three days.
Earlier on Friday afternoon, four people were killed and 40 others wounded
when a remote controlled blast hit the convoy of a former chief minister and
election candidate in his constituency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Earlier on Tuesday night, a suicide blast hit a political leader’s convoy
in the country’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The country’s senate
was on Friday told that the blast left 22 people including the leader killed
and 75 others injured.
After Friday’s blast, the country’s election commission canceled election
in Mastung constituency. As according to the country’s constitution if
candidate of some constituency dies, the polls in the particular area are
terminated.
BSS/XINHUA/SSS/0840 hrs