At least 25 killed in Pakistan attacks, including 14 at political rally

At least 25 people were killed in three attacks in Pakistan on
Tuesday, officials said, including 14 who died after a suicide bomber targeted
a political rally in the southwestern province of Balochistan.
Dozens of people were wounded in that explosion, which took place in the
parking lot of a stadium in the provincial capital, Quetta, where hundreds of
members of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) had gathered, two provincial
officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
At least seven of the wounded were in critical condition, the
officials said.
Another
attack in Balochistan, near the border with Iran, claimed five lives on
Tuesday, while six soldiers were killed after a suicide attack on their base in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Balochistan is Pakistan's largest and most resource-rich province, but also its
poorest, and regularly ranks among the lowest on human development indicator
scorecards.
The BNP
campaigns on a platform calling for greater rights and economic investment in
the wellbeing of members of the Baloch ethnicity.
The
party's chief, Akhtar Mengal, had just finished speaking at the Quetta rally
and was leaving the venue when the attack occurred. He said he was
"safe" in a post on social media.
Since 2014, China has invested significantly in building a
road-and-infrastructure project in Balochistan linked to its One Belt One Road
initiative.
Many
Baloch, however, say the benefits have been reaped only by outsiders.
Pakistani
forces have been battling an insurgency in the province for more than a decade,
and in 2024 the region saw a sharp rise in violence, with 782 people killed.
Elsewhere
in Balochistan on Tuesday, five paramilitary personnel were killed and four
wounded when a homemade bomb exploded as their convoy passed through a district
near the Iranian border, a senior local official told AFP.
No group
immediately claimed responsibility for either attack.
- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
attack -
Since
January 1, according to AFP figures, more than 430 people, mostly members of
the security forces, have been killed in violence carried out by armed groups
fighting the state in Balochistan and neighboring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
On
Tuesday, six soldiers were killed in an attack on a paramilitary headquarters
in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa city of Bannu, the military said.
"A
suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the gate of the FC camp,
after which five more suicide attackers entered," a government official
told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The
ensuing exchange of fire lasted 12 hours, ending after the six attackers were
killed, the official said.
The
militant group Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan claimed responsibility for that
attack.
















