(NationRise.com) – Pakistan’s government officials said that at least 27 people were dead after two bombings on February 7 in the southwest region of the country, less than 24 hours before the beginning of the nation’s parliamentary elections. Local reports revealed that two dozen innocents are severely injured, with the death toll expected to rise.
As reported by The Associated Press, the first blast killed 16 people and took place at the election office of conservative politician Asfandyar Khan, who is an independent candidate competing in the Baluchistan province. Provincial government spokesman Jan Achakzai told the news agency that the bombing represented one of the worst attacks that Pakistan’s southwest region has suffered over the last few years. He added that the second blast took place a couple of minutes after the first one, killing 11 innocents at Jamiat Ulema Islamic Party’s election office, which is also located in the Baluchistan province.
The Ulema Islamic Party is known for being one of the most radical Islamist parties in the country, and one of the few that has publicly expressed support for the Afghan Taliban. While the party operates in many religious schools across Pakistan, and even when some of the Taliban leaders in Afghanistan studied there, it has been bombed by the Islamic State and other Jihadi groups over the last few years.
The Islamic State Pakistan Province claimed responsibility for the two bombings in Baluchistan, which came at a tense time for the Middle East, following some armed conflicts that have destabilized the region. The first one took place in October 2023 after the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas perpetrated massive attacks on Israel, which prompted the Israeli government to declare war against it. The next one happened a couple of weeks later after Yemeni Houthi terrorists started to attack commercial ships in the Red Sea as a response to Israel’s incursion on Gaza, prompting a military response from the United States.
According to CNN, the death toll from the explosions had reached 30 as of February 7th.
Copyright 2024, NationRise.com
