QUETTA/ PESHAWAR/ MANSEHRA/ SWABI/ BANNU/ BAJAUR AGENCY/ NORTH WAZIRISTAN - Election-related violence triggered scenes of panic across the country on Thursday as election candidates and security officials, and schools designated as election offices came under attacks, killing dozens of people and wounding several others.
A Balochistan Constabulary official was killed and six others wounded when convoy of PML-N candidate Akbar Askani came under an attack in Mand area of Kech district. A Levies official said Akbar Askani, election candidate for PB-50, was heading towards an election meeting venue when unidentified militants opened fire on his convoy, killing a Balochistan Constabulary official Bashir Ahmed and wounding six others. Law-enforcement agencies rushed to the site and shifted the dead and the wounded to District Headquarters Hospital Turbat. The banned Baloch Liberation Front claimed the responsibility for the attack.
In another incident, unidentified arsonists torched PPP election candidate for PB-27 Mir Duran Khan’s office in Manipur area.
Separately, two bullet-riddled bodies were recovered from a desolated area in Ispin Karez locality on the outskirts of Quetta. Levis officials shifted the bodies to Civil Hospital Quetta for medico-legal formalities. Doctors said the bodies were about a week old, and the victims had been shot in the head. Identity of the victims could not be ascertained immediately. The motive behind the double murder could not be ascertained either until the filing of this report.
Meanwhile, a primary school designated as a polling station was blown up in Ghot Raisani area of Dadhar, the capital of Bolan district. Levies sources said unidentified persons had planted an explosive device along the outer wall of the school. Two more schools, designated as polling stations, were blown up in Jaffarabad area. According to sources, some schools also came under bomb attacks in Kohlu and Turbat areas.
Meanwhile, unidentified attackers attacked a convoy of Balochistan Constabulary in Reko area of Nushki with automatic weapons in which several security personnel were stated to be injured.
Separately, Frontier Corps recovered arms and explosive material in Subatpur area of Jaffarabad. FC spokesman said 70-kg explosive material, 10 detonators, four improvised explosive devices, a remote control, 50-metre wire and a motorcycle were seized in the raids.
Four people were killed and three others injured when an explosive device attached to a police mobile van was detonated using a remote control in Jadba area near Mansehra.
District Police Officer Shah Nazir said the police vehicle was targeted near Surmel Kotli village when it went to fetch potable water. Two constables Waseed Rafiq and Salahuddin, and two civilians Naseem and Ptata were killed. The injured constables Mumtaz, Muhammad Hayat and Ajib Khan were ferried to Battagram Hospital.
A man was killed and three others got wounded when an explosion struck near an election office of an independent candidate Maulana Jamaluddin in constituency of NA-41 in North Waziristan. Sources said the explosives were detonated remotely when displaced voters were being transported to the area ahead of the polling day.
Another blast took place before an election office in Khyber Agency. The office belonging to Abdur Rehman, an independent candidate for NA-47, was completely damaged in the explosion.
In Peshawar’s suburban area of Matani, a bomb planted before an election office by unidentified miscreants went off. No loss of life was reported in the blast.
Another bomb struck near Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl vice chief Shukatur Rehman’s residence in Soorani area of Bajaur Agency. Fortunately, the bombing caused no harm and Rehman and family were stated to be safe.
In a major raid on Bamkhel area of Swabi district, police arrested two operatives of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. The arrested terrorists, Khan Sher of Mardan and Sohail Khan of Swabi, were learnt to have been tasked with carrying out attacks during election days. Two pistols, two grenades, two remote controls, half-kilogramme steel nails, two batteries and two kilos of black explosive powder, and a bike were seized from them.
Separately, a bomb struck near an office of Benazir Income Support Programme in Mal Lara area. However, no casualty was reported. Another bomb exploded in front of Awami National Party election office, damaging the camp. But no casualty was reported.
In Bajaur Agency, a boy was killed and four others hurt when an explosive device went off inside a playground in Rashkai area of Bajaur Agency. Administration officials said the blast hit when a ceremony after a cricket match was in progress near a government-run primary school. Sixteen-year-old Ibrahim Khan was reported killed and four others wounded.