Bomb near Pakistan election rally kills two
PAKISTAN: A roadside bomb attack near an election rally in
restive northwest Pakistan killed two people and injured six including a
former MP on Sunday, police said.
The bomb exploded in the town of Bannu, where former MP Adnan Wazir,
a member of the secular Awami National Party (ANP) from Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province, was heading a convoy of dozens of vehicles to
address the rally, "The remote-controlled bomb hit the convoy and
damaged several vehicles. Two people later died in hospital," Nisar
Ahmed Tanoli, a senior police official told AFP, adding that Wazir was
among six injured.
Bannu is close to the lawless tribal area along the Afghan border
where Taliban and other Islamic militants have hideouts.
Nobody immediately claimed responsibility.
But the umbrella Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has made death threats
against politicians from the secular ANP, which ruled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
from 2008 until this year.
Violence has been increasing in the northwest as Pakistan prepares to
hold a general election on May 11, which will mark the country's first
democratic transition of power. AFP |