Massive Blasts Kill 128 Ahead Of Pakistan Elections; Ousted PM Arrested At Airport

[Swordsmyth]

The deadliest terror attack in over a year has rocked Pakistan as bombs went off at two campaign rallies in different cities. The massive death toll climbed by the hour throughout Friday after a suicide bomber struck a convoy headed to an election-related event in Mastung near the southwestern city of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan Province.
Pakistani authorities said 128 were killed and over 150 wounded in a suicide attack reportedly claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS).


Some observers have noted that the spot is close to where Pakistani forces had previously claimed to have eliminated an ISIS base in the province.
The attack targeted Siraj Raisani, a Balochistan Awami Party candidate for parliament running in the July 25 general elections, and his supporters. Raisani died as a result of the blast, which came after a motorcycle bomb attack earlier in the day in the northwestern town of Bannu targeted a convoy transporting former Housing and Works Minister Akram Khan Durrani, who escaped unharmed. At least four people died in the Bannu attack with at least 32 wounded.
A local hospital official in Mastung said, "we've run out of space in the mortuary" and security officials cited over 271 injured based on incoming casualties. Video footage and photographs showed a grizzly scene with dead and wounded lying nearly on top of each other under a cramped outdoor tent.

120 dead, 200+ injured as #Mastung bleeds. Daesh claims responsibility for this attack on election rally in Balochistan. By next election the Pakistani State will be busy mainstreaming Daesh. pic.twitter.com/FIEgN163xd
— Naila Inayat (@nailainayat) July 13, 2018

Thought the region experienced similar attacks in prior years, Friday's attack on a campaign rally was unexpected. Al Jazeera reports:

The BAP's candidate Siraj Raisani was running for election to the provincial assembly in his home district of Mastung, where the attack took place. The area has been the site of several attacks by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) armed group, although those have mostly targeted Shia Muslim pilgrims bound for Iran.
Ethnic Baloch nationalists, who are fighting for independence from Pakistan, have also claimed several attacks on election candidates in the region in recent days.

One local government official condemned the attack as “a conspiracy to sabotage the electoral process in the province,” according to a statement.

BAP's #SirajRaisani martyred in #Mastung suicide blast; death toll rises to 111 https://t.co/6YT28aPKv4 pic.twitter.com/3P3CLLBvAr
— The Express Tribune (@etribune) July 13, 2018

Pakistan is currently on edge ahead of July 25th elections, and after a recent spate of election-related bombings and assassinations.
Also significant is that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was arrested Friday as he arrived at Lahore airport from London. Security forces had put the city on lockdown to prevent planned huge demonstrations by his supporters.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...rested-airport

[Danke]

We need more of those refugees here so someday we can experience this.

[Swordsmyth]

Police have opened criminal cases against nearly 17,000 members of Pakistan's outgoing ruling party over breaking election rules, a statement said on Monday, as the country prepares to go to the polls next week.The latest 16,868 cases, which the police statement said were registered in the eastern province of Punjab over the past four days, come after the party said police had also detained hundreds of members of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the central city of Lahore.

The statement gave no details of which election rules were suspected of having been broken.

The party's founder, ousted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, facing a conviction in absentia on corruption charges, was jailed last week when he returned to the country seeking to revitalize the PML-N ahead of the July 25 vote.

The campaign has been riven by that accusations Pakistan's powerful military is working behind the scenes to skew the contest in favor of ex-cricket hero Imran Khan.

The military, which has ruled the nuclear-armed country for almost half its history and ended Sharif's second stint in power in 1999 in a bloodless coup, has repeatedly denied any interference. Khan has also denied colluding with the military.

National polls indicate a close race between the PML-N and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI, or Pakistan Justice Movement) led by Khan, with the Pakistan Peoples Party in third place.

Cases were also registered against 39 members from Khan's movement, the police statement said.

It said 270 people had been detained, but it did not say which political party they belonged to.

More at: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/ar...g-ruling-party