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Campaign rally bombing kills at least four in Pakistan 70 killed in suicide attack at Pakistan election rally – Health minister (VIDEO)
(about 3 hours later)
At least four people have been killed and 20 more wounded as a bomb exploded near the election rally of an Islamist politician in the northwestern town of Bannu, Pakistan on Friday. Candidate Akram Khan Durrani had just finished making a speech when the bomb went off, and got away unharmed. Durrani is running for Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a political alliance of radical Islamic groups. His rival, popular former moderate lawmaker Imran Khan, condemned Friday’s bombing as a conspiracy to sabotage the July 25 vote. Meanwhile, former Prime MInister Nawaz Sharif returned to Lahore on Friday to face a ten year jail sentence for corruption. Police have arrested his supporters, who turned out at the airport to greet him. Some 70 people have died and more than 30 have been injured after a suicide bombing at an election rally near Quetta, Pakistan. Hours earlier a bomb went off at another election rally in the country’s northwest, killing four.
More than 1,000 people were attending the rally when it was targeted, according to local police. Friday’s bombing is the deadliest in Pakistan since two bomb blasts ripped apart a marketplace in Parachinar last June, killing almost 100 people.
The blast killed Siraj Raisani, who was running for a seat with the newly-formed Balochistan Awami Party. Raisani died while on the way to a nearby hospital, according to the provincial home minister.
The blast came just hours after a bomb went off at a separate election rally in the northwestern town of Bannu. Four people were killed and 20 more injured as a bomb exploded after candidate Akram Khan Durrani finished making a speech. Durrani is running for Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a political alliance of hardline Islamic groups.
Durrani’s rival, former moderate lawmaker Imran Khan, condemned Friday’s bombing as a conspiracy to sabotage the July 25 vote.
Tensions have been on the rise in Pakistan as polling day draws nearer. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is also returning to the country from the UK to face a 10-year jail sentence for corruption. Police have arrested scores of Sharif supporters, who turned out in droves to welcome their former leader at Lahore airport.