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☆ Rehan Zeb Khan: Pakistan election candidate killed ahead of general election
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Sophia Saifi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Islamabad, Pakistan CNN —A Pakistan election candidate was shot dead while campaigning on Wednesday, as violence escalates a week before polls open. Rehan Zeb Khan, an independent candidate affiliated with former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was shot in a “targeted killing” when gunmen opened fire on his car in a market in Bajaur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to district police. In response to the violence, Pakistan’s Election Commission (ECP) summoned an emergency meeting of security officials on Thursday to discuss the “deteriorating” law and order situation in the two provinces, according to a statement from the commission. On Wednesday, Pakistan’s military also met for an annual conference where they discussed the possible deployment of the country’s army to assist the election commission during the general election next week, according to a government statement. The election commission has declared February 8, the day of the election, a public holiday for the country’s 240 million people.

Persons: Rehan Zeb Khan, Imran Khan’s, ”, Malik Kaleem Ullah, Home and Tribal Affairs Balochistan Zubair Jamali, “, Khan Organizations: Pakistan CNN —, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly, Reuters, Pakistan’s People’s Party, Pakistan Muslim League, Home and Tribal Affairs Balochistan, Baloch Liberation Army, PTI Locations: Islamabad, Pakistan, Imran Khan’s Pakistan, Bajaur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, State Khorasan, Balochistan, Home and Tribal Affairs Balochistan Zubair, Sibi

☆ Pakistan suicide bombing death toll rises to 45
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Saud Mehsud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, July 31 (Reuters) - The death toll in a suicide bombing at a political rally held by a religious party rose to 45 on Monday, officials said, an attack compounding fears of unrest ahead of a general election due later in the year. An official at a state-run rescue agency, Bilal Faizi, said the death toll had risen to 45. A general view of damaged property, following an explosion by a suicide bomber in Bajaur, Pakistan July 31, 2023 in this screen grab taken from a social media video. Bilal Yasir/via REUTERSPakistan has seen a resurgence of attacks by Islamist militants since last year when a ceasefire between the Pakistani Taliban, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and the government broke down. A mosque bombing in Peshawar city in the northwest killed more than 100 people in January but attacks on political parties are rare.

Persons: DERA ISMAIL, Fazl, Bilal Faizi, Riaz Anwar, Bilal Yasir, Shehbaz Sharif, Asif Shahzad, Robert Birsel Organizations: Ulema, Islamic, REUTERS, Taliban, Thomson Locations: DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, Bajaur, Afghanistan, REUTERS Pakistan, Taliban Pakistan, Peshawar city

☆ ISIS Affiliate Claims Responsibility for Deadly Attack at Rally in Pakistan
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Christina Goldbaum | More About Christina Goldbaum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Islamic State affiliate in South Asia claimed responsibility on Monday for a suicide bombing in northwest Pakistan that killed dozens of people and injured about 200 more, in the latest bloody sign of the deteriorating security situation in the country. The death toll from the explosion on Sunday, which targeted a political rally in the Bajaur district near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, rose to at least 54 people, Shaukat Abbas, a senior officer at the provincial police’s counterterrorism department, said on Monday. The Islamic State affiliate, known as the Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, claimed on Monday that a suicide bomber had carried out the attack, characterizing it as part of the group’s war against democracy as a system of government, according to the SITE Intelligence Group. The blast was among the deadliest terrorist attacks in months in Pakistan, where some militant groups operating along the border with Afghanistan have become more active over the past year. The rise in violence represents a grim shift: Since 2014, when security forces carried out a major military operation to flush militants out of Pakistan, the country has experienced relative calm.

Persons: Shaukat Abbas Organizations: Islamic State, SITE Intelligence Group Locations: South Asia, Pakistan, Bajaur, Pakistan’s, Afghanistan, State Khorasan

CNN —At least 39 people died and over 120 were injured after a blast tore through a political convention organized by an Islamist party in northwestern Pakistan, police said. The Inspector General of Police for the region of Bajaur, Akhter Hayat Gandapur, said the injured in Sunday’s suspected suicide blast had been rushed to hospital. The explosion targeted members of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party who had gathered in the town of Khar, close to the border with Afghanistan. But the local branch of ISIS has previously targeted JUI-F party leaders as they consider them apostates. The leader of the JUI-F party, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, expressed “deep sorrow and regret” following the blast, in a statement released by his press office.

Persons: Akhter Hayat Gandapur, Sunday’s, Fazl, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, ”, ” Rahim Shah, Dawn.com Organizations: CNN, Police, ISIS Locations: Pakistan, Bajaur, Jamiat, Khar, Afghanistan

[1/2] Rescue workers and other people transport an injured person to the hospital, after a blast in Bajaur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan July 30, 2023. Rescue 1122/Handout via REUTERSDERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, July 30 (Reuters) - At least 40 people were killed and over 130 injured when a suicide bomber set off explosives at a political rally in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday, police said. The provincial police chief Akhtar Hayat told Reuters the explosion was caused by a suicide bomb. "The JUI-F organised a workers convention in Khar town of Bajaur in which 40 people lost their lives and more than 130 were injured," Khan said. Pakistan has seen a resurgence of attacks by Islamist militants since last year when a ceasefire between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamabad broke down.

Persons: DERA ISMAIL, Fazl, Akhtar Hayat, Nazir Khan, Khan, Zabihullah Mujahid, Shehbaz Sharif, Saud Mehsud, Dera Ismail Khan, Jibran Ahmad, Nilutpal, Gibran Peshimam, Andrew Cawthorne, Christina Fincher Organizations: Sunday, Ulema, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Bajaur district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Bajaur, Afghanistan, Peshawar, Khar, Taliban Pakistan, Islamabad, Islamic State

☆ At Least 35 Dead in Blast at Political Rally in Pakistan
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-30 | by ( Christina Goldbaum | More About Christina Goldbaum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An explosion at a political rally on Sunday in northwest Pakistan killed at least 35 people and injured 200 more, officials said, the latest sign of the deteriorating security situation in Pakistan, where some militant groups have become more active over the past two years since finding a haven in neighboring Afghanistan under the Taliban administration there. The blast occurred about 4 p.m. in Bajaur, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, said Feroz Jamal, the provincial information minister. It targeted a political rally organized by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, an Islamist party that is part of the governing coalition in Pakistan. A state of emergency has been imposed in the hospitals in Peshawar, the provincial capital. A local leader of the political party who was onstage when the explosion occurred, Maulana Ziaullah, was among those killed.

Persons: Feroz Jamal, Fazl, Mr, Jamal, Maulana Ziaullah Organizations: Jamiat Ulema, Islamic Locations: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bajaur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan’s, Peshawar, Islamic State, Jamiat

☆ Suspected Pakistan suicide bombing kills at least 55, injures 135 more at political rally
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-30 | by ( Mushtaq Yusufzai | Associated Press | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

At least 16 people were killed and dozens more wounded on July 30 by a bomb blast at a political gathering of a radical Islamic party in northern Pakistan, police said. At least 55 people were killed and 135 were wounded in what one official said was a suicide attack. Jalil Jan, a spokesperson for the political party, told NBC News the death toll had risen to 55 and that some of the 135 injuries were critical. Party officials said Rehman was not in the rally. Rehman is considered to be a pro-Taliban cleric and his political party is part of the coalition government in Islamabad.

Persons: Farooq NAEEM, FAROOQ NAEEM, Nazir Khan, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Khan, Jan, Azam Khan, Jalil Jan, Mohibullah Khan Yousufzai, Maulana Ziaullah, Abdur Rasheed, Maulana Jamaluddin, Rehman, Zabihullah Mujahid, Mujahid Organizations: Getty, Sunday, Senior, NBC News, Islam, NBC, Government, Islamic State Locations: Bajaur district, Pakistan, AFP, Bajur, Afghanistan, Khar, Peshawar, Islamabad, Islamic Emirate

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