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At least 20 people, including an influential local politician, were killed that night in an attack on a Taliban-sponsored electoral meeting, according to a new report today. The attack, which occurred in the city of Peshawar, in northwestern Pakistan, is the deadliest in the country since the beginning of the election campaign for the legislative elections scheduled for July 25.
was held at a meeting of the Awami National Party (ANP), which has already been targeted by Islamist insurgents for demonstrating its opposition to groups like the Taliban. "The toll has risen to 20 dead and 63 wounded, 35 of which are still in two hospitals in Peshawar," said Wednesday to AFP the police chief of the city, Qazi Jameel. This new balance sheet has been confirmed by an official at the Peshawar Hospital, Zulfiqar Babakhel. According to the leader of the mine clearance team, Shafqat Malik, the suicide bomber, about 16 years old, was carrying 8 kg of explosives and 3 kg of pellets and pellets. "According to the first elements of the investigation, it was a suicide attack of which Haroon Bilour was the target," AFP Shafqat Malik, a police official, told AFP. PNA in Elections
Another senior police official, Kaukab Farooqi, confirmed that Haroon Bilour was killed in the attack. According to the police, the explosion came as the politician was about to address some 200 supporters. Mohammad Khorasani, a spokesman for Pakistan's Taliban group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the insurgents had "already declared war" on the ANP and calling on the public to "
Haroon Bilour, a lawyer by profession, belonged to an influential political family in the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, of which Peshawar is the capital. His father, Bashir Bilour, also a well-known politician, was killed in a suicide bombing in 2012. Peshawar's lawyers announced a strike to protest and mourn their colleague. Local traders also announced a strike. The day before, a spokesman for the Pakistani army said there were threats against the campaign for the legislative elections of July 25 and that more than 370,000 men would be deployed on the day of the vote.
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