Cairo, Feb 7 (EFE) – The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility on Wednesday for two bombings targeting political leaders and their ers in one of Pakistan’s most volatile regions.
IS has not so far claimed responsibility for a third attack that left at least 26 dead and 54 wounded on the eve of parliamentary elections.
In a statement released through its Telegram channel, the group said that “soldiers of the caliphate detonated a motorcycle with explosives against an electoral group ing one of the infidel candidates in the city of Pishin, in Baluchistan, causing the death and injury of more than 45 apostates”.
Police sources confirmed to EFE that the first and deadliest of the three attacks took place in the Pishin district, in the volatile province of Baluchistan, when an explosive device attached to a motorcycle exploded in front of the campaign headquarters of an independent candidate, killing at least 14 people and wounding 25 others.
Regional candidate Asfand Yar Khan Kakar, the alleged target of the attack, was not in the area at the time, said officer Muhammed Ramzan of the police control center in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
Later, the group also claimed responsibility for a second attack on the office of the Islamist party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) in the Killa Saifullah district, also in Balochistan, which killed 12 people and wounded 24.
The jihadist group has not yet made any reference for the third attack, in the South Waziristan tribal district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which hit the vehicle of Naseerullah Wazir, a member of parliament from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, and left at least five people wounded.
The announcement of the elections has led to an increase in attacks on candidates and commission staff, particularly in the provinces of Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where armed insurgent movements have a strong presence.
Pakistan will elect ton Thursday the 266 representatives of the National Assembly (Parliament), in addition to the representatives of the regional legislative assemblies of its four provinces, a process in which more than 128 million people are called to vote. EFE
ar-rsm/mcd
