At least four people were killed Tuesday in a bombing near a Pakistan political rally, officials said, as the nation prepares to go to the polls next week.
Police in the Balochistan provincial capital of Quetta said a bomb planted on a motorbike detonated as supporters rallied for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of jailed ex-prime minister Imran Khan.
“The PTI rally was passing by there but it is not clear whether the rally was a target or not,” senior police official Farhan Zahid told AFP.
Waseem Baig, a provincial health department spokesman, said six people were wounded in addition to the four killed.
In a statement, PTI said three of its activists were among the dead at the rally — a convoy of motorbikes and cars parading through the city to curry support for a candidate ahead of national elections scheduled for February 8.
A party spokesman told AFP it was too soon to say whether they had been deliberately targeted.
Pakistan’s electoral commission said it was investigating.
The attack came just hours after PTI founder Khan was sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of having leaked classified state documents.
Khan and PTI say they are suffering under an unprecedented crackdown designed to prevent their return to power through the February 8 poll.
The 71-year-old former cricket star was ousted from office in 2022 and launched a campaign of defiance against Pakistan’s military kingmakers, who he said conspired to end his premiership.
Since then he has been buried under an avalanche of legal cases and barred from standing for office, whilst PTI has been largely squeezed out of the public sphere.
Pakistan has also been suffering from a security crisis, with a dramatic uptick in militant attacks since the Taliban returned to power in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Last year saw casualties hit a six-year high, with more than 1,500 civilians, security forces and militants killed, according to the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies.
Islamabad has blamed the rise in attacks on the Taliban, saying they are not doing enough to root out militancy in Afghanistan.
