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Less than two weeks away from parliamentary elections, tension rekindled Saturday in Pakistan in the aftermath of a suicide bombing of an election rally that left at least 128 people dead and the arrest of the former president. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
Claimed by the Islamic State, the attack, whose record is still tentative, occurred in Mastung, about forty kilometers from the capital of the volatile province of Balochistan, Quetta, in the south-west of the country.
This is the third attack this week and the second in one day on Friday to an election rally, before the general elections of July 25, in an increasingly tense climate. 19659002] Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, sentenced last week to ten years in prison for corruption, was detained with his daughter Maryam, sentenced to 7 years in prison, on her arrival in Pakistan on Friday. Abu Dhabi [19659] 002] His condemnation was denounced as "political" by his clan and caused the tension to rise sharply before the elections. Many observers were concerned about the campaign's turn, where several cases of kidnappings, pressure and threats on media and political activists have been reported. Questioned, the army denies any involvement
"I know that (…) I will be taken directly to prison," Sharif said in a video released earlier Friday by his party. "I want to tell the Pakistanis that I did this for you (…) Walk with me, join your hands with mine and change the destination of the country," said Sharif, who remains very influential.
Until this week, the election campaign was relatively spared from the violence.
But with 128 deaths, according to provincial authorities, the Mastung attack is the deadliest in Pakistan since the attack on a school of Peshawar, perpetrated in December 2014 by a Taliban commando, which had killed more than 150 people.
The attack was aimed at a political rally by Mir Siraj Raisani, candidate for a provincial deputy seat under the banner of the Baluchistan Awami Party (BAP), who died in the attack.
"We were standing outside the complex and when Raisani started his speech, a deafening explosion occurred," said a witness to AFP, Salam Baloch.
"I "The people put the dead and the wounded in rickshaw and took them to the hospital before help arrived on the spot", he added. 19659002] Raisani's badistant, Shams Mengal, claimed that the suicide bomber "was in the front row." "He got up and blew himself up as soon as Raisani started his speech," he said.
– A "frightening" scene –
The scene after the explosion was "scary", said another witness, Atta Ullah. "Human remains and bloody pieces of flesh were scattered all over the place. complex. Injured people screamed in pain and fear. "
" We arrived at the site of the blast and found people scattered and there was hardly anyone in good condition. We alerted our vehicles. Thirty ambulances have arrived and the dead and wounded have been transferred "to hospitals, said an ambulance worker from the NGO Edhi, Arif.
The evacuation of the dead and wounded had to be largely Darkness for lack of electricity, according to an AFP journalist on the spot Baluchistan is the poorest and most unstable of the provinces of Pakistan
Earlier in the day, another bomb hidden on a motorcycle exploded near Bannu (north-west), pbading another convicted candidate's convoy, killing four people and injuring forty others, police said.
Politician Akram Khan Durrani, Representative of a coalition of religious parties, the MMA, survived the attack.
A suicide bombing claimed by the Pakistani Taliban had also targeted Tuesday night an election meeting of the Awami National Party (ANP) in Peshawar (north-west). west), killing 22 people whose Local politician Haroon Bilour, according to a new balance sheet
"The Pakistani authorities have a duty to protect the rights of all Pakistanis during this election period: their physical security and their ability to freely express their political opinions, whatever the party to which they belong, "responded Omar Waraich, Deputy Director for South Asia to Amnesty International.
The military announced earlier this week to deploy more than 370,000 men to ensure security on polling day.
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