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Pakistan election rally hit by deadly bomb attack | Pakistan election rally hit by deadly bomb attack |
(35 minutes later) | |
At least nine people have been killed and dozens injured in Pakistan after a suicide bomb attack in Peshawar. | |
The Awami National Party (ANP), which governed the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, had called the political rally ahead of next month's elections. | The Awami National Party (ANP), which governed the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, had called the political rally ahead of next month's elections. |
The Pakistani Taliban, which has repeatedly targeted the ANP, said it had carried out the attack. | The Pakistani Taliban, which has repeatedly targeted the ANP, said it had carried out the attack. |
The polls are expected to mark the country's first-ever civilian-to-civilian transfer of power. | |
Local television streamed live images of vehicles burning and people trying to reach the wounded amid clouds of smoke. | Local television streamed live images of vehicles burning and people trying to reach the wounded amid clouds of smoke. |
Senior ANP leader Ghulam Bilour, who served as railways minister in the outgoing government, escaped the blast with minor injuries, police said. | |
The ANP is one of three parties recently named by a spokesman of the Pakistani Taliban as "legitimate" targets for militant attacks during the elections. | |
The other two parties are the Karachi-based MQM, and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). | |
The three parties are secular and dominated Pakistan's last government that completed its five-year term last month. | |
A recent report by BBC Urdu said that more than 700 ANP activists have been killed by snipers or suicide bombers during the last four years, including a top party leader, Bashir Bilour - the brother of Ghulam. | |
In recent weeks, low-intensity bombs have gone off at several local ANP election meetings, which analysts say have reduced the party's ability to conduct an open campaign. | |
On Sunday, the Pakistani Taliban attacked two ANP leaders, killing one and wounding the other. |