Last update - 00:00 16/02/2008
Car bombings kill 39 at rally ahead of Pakistan elections
By The Associated Press
A suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a crowd following a campaign rally in Pakistan's northwest, killing 37 people and underlining the threat of Islamic militant violence during Monday's crucial parliamentary election, government officials said. A second car bombing near a military checkpoint killed two.
Bodies were seen lying in pools of blood following the deadlier blast Saturday in Parachinar, a town in a volatile tribal area bordering Afghanistan, one witness said.
Most of the victims appeared to be supporters of the opposition Pakistan
People's Party, formerly headed by the slain Benazir Bhutto. They had gathered at the home of Syed Riaz Hussain, an independent candidate backed by the PPP, after the rally, said Mushtaq Hussain, an administrative official in the Kurram area.
Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said 37 people were killed and more than 90 wounded when a suicide bomber drove into a crowd as they were preparing to celebrate with a meal. Asked who could be behind the bombing, he said those who want to derail the election process.
The injured poured into a nearby hospital, many in critical condition with severe burn wounds, said Raza Hussain, one of the doctors.
Several of our party members are lying in a pool of blood, said Zafar Ali, a party supporter at the scene. We are taking the injured and dumping them into pickup trucks and vans to bring them to the hospital.
Monday's elections are considered crucial to restoring democracy in Pakistan after eight years of military rule under President Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup. In addition to rising political discontent following decisions in the last year to impose emergency rule and purge the judiciary, he is battling a rising Islamic militancy, especially in the northwest.
A string of deadly suicide bombings - including the Dec. 27 assassination of Bhutto, a two-time former prime minister, - have left hundreds dead and discouraged many candidates from holding large rallies. Voters too say they may stay at home on election day.
The second blast Saturday occurred near a checkpoint in Swat, a former tourist destination where security forces have battled armed supporters of a pro-Taliban cleric in recent months.
Two civilian passers-by were killed and eight security personnel wounded, two of them seriously, said army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas. The windows of a nearby military media center were shattered.
Recent opinion surveys show the opposition poised for a landslide victory on Monday. Although Musharraf is not up for re-election, the retired army general could face impeachment if the opposition wins a two-thirds majority in the legislature, as many predict.
His critics are worried he will rig the vote, but Musharraf insisted Saturday the elections would be free, fair and - hopefully - without violence.
We will have a stable, democratically elected government and with the stable, democratically elected government we will ensure a successful fight against terrorism and extremism, he said in a speech broadcast on state-run Pakistan Television.
For some, the biggest fear is major violence between political parties if
there are widespread allegations of cheating.
Highlighting those tensions, hundreds of police surrounded and then clashed with more than 1,500 supporters of a coalition of anti-Musharraf parties boycotting the vote in the southwestern city of Quetta on Saturday. Seven people were injured.
The demonstrators threw rocks at police, who responded with tear gas before arresting 50 activists for the violence, said police officer Raja Mohammed Ishtiaq. A truck and three motorcycles were burned in the melee, and the street was littered with party flags and shoes.
The government has deployed 81,000 soldiers to back up 392,000 police assigned to protect voters, said Abbas, the army spokesman.
Saturday's attacks came a day after police announced they had seized
bomb-making materials and arrested 10 suspected Taliban-linked militants in the southern city of Karachi, where some 150 people died in an October suicide attack that narrowly missed Bhutto.
She died 10 weeks later in a second attack.
The militants allegedly had a long list of targets, including politicians, law enforcers, businessmen and army officials. They had set up a laboratory in an industrial area in Karachi to prepare poisons and explosives and for training recruits, said provincial police chief Azhar Farooqi.
The suspects were captured last month, but authorities waited to make the
announcements until after the investigations were complete, he said.
On Saturday, police arrested a man found with a suicide vest in Hyderabad, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Karachi, said regional police chief Shaukat Shah.
In the north, 70 alleged followers of pro-Taliban cleric Maulvi Fazlullah
surrendered to police in the Swat Valley, said district police chief Akhtar Ali Shah. Fazlullah's fighters have been battling security forces in the picturesque valley since July.