Pakistan: At least 128 dead in suicide attack on election rally

Quetta (Pakistan) – At least 128 people were killed in a suicide bombing at an election rally in southwestern Pakistan on Friday, an attack claimed by the Islamic State group within two weeks of legislative elections .
  

The attack, whose balance sheet is still tentative, occurred in Mastung, about 40 km from the capital of the unstable Balochistan province, Quetta.

This is the second attack Friday on an election rally in Pakistan, where parliamentary elections are to be held on July 25 in an increasingly tense climate, and the third this week.

" The record climbed to 128 dead ," said Interior Minister Agha Umar Bungalzai. This is the deadliest attack in Pakistan since the attack on a Peshawar school, perpetrated in December 2014 by a Taliban commando, which killed more than 150 people.

The attack was on a political rally of Mir Siraj Raisani, candidate for a provincial deputy seat under the banner of the Baluchistan Awami Party (BAP), who died in the attack, according to the Interior Minister from Baluchistan Province, Agha Umar Bungalzai.

" He succumbed to his wounds during his transfer to Quetta ," he said.

" We were standing outside the complex and when Raisani began his speech, a deafening explosion occurred ," said a witness to AFP, Salam Baloch.

" I saw large balls of fire and smoke, people put the dead and wounded in rickshaw and took them to the hospital before help arrived ", he added.

Raisani's badistant, Shams Mengal, claimed that the kamikaze" was in the first rank "." It's is raised and blew up as soon as Raisani began his speech ", he said.

– a scene" frightening "-

The scene after frightening "said another witness, Atta Ullah." Human remains and pieces of bloody flesh were scattered throughout the complex. Injured cried with pain and fear . "

The evacuation of the dead and wounded had to be done largely in the dark for lack of electricity, reported an AFP journalist on the spot

Earlier in the day, another motorcycle bomb exploded near Bannu (northwestern), pbading another convict's convoy, killing four people and injuring forty or so people. other, police say.

Akram Khan Durrani, a representative of a coalition of religious parties, the MMA, survived the attack.

A suicide bombing claimed by the Pakistani Taliban also targeted Tuesday night an election meeting of the Awami National Party (ANP) in Peshawar (north-west), killing 22 people including local politician Haroon Bilour, according to a new record.

Until then, the election campaign for the legislative had been relatively spared e

" The Pakistani authorities have a duty to protect the rights of all Pakistanis during this election period: their physical security and ability to freely express their political views, regardless of their whereabouts. the party to which they belong ", responded Omar Waraich, Deputy Director for South Asia to Amnesty International.

The military announced earlier this week to plan the deployment of more than 370,000 men to ensure security on polling day.