Thirteen incidents of electoral violence across the country claimed 23 lives – mostly those of workers of the Awami National Party (ANP) – while 54 others were injured between April 13 and 19, says the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Also, 10 incidents of political violence left 24 people dead and 28 injured during the week, compared with the preceding week’s 170 dead and 42 injured in 20 incidents.
Civilians were majority of the victims of political violence – with 17 getting killed and 10 injured. Seven security personnel were also killed and 18 sustained injuries. Region-wise, FATA was the most volatile with seven people getting killed and 18 injured, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with nine killed, and 10 injured and in Sindh eight were killed.
Last week, 10 political violence incidents were reported in two districts and as many tribal agencies compared with 20 incidents reported in nine districts and three tribal agencies in the preceding week.
Of the 10 attacks, five were aimed at the public, two hit state infrastructure and one each was targeted at the security forces, an anti-polio team and private property.
In Karachi, two targeted attacks claimed the lives of four people while as many sectarian violence incidents killed four. In one incident, a gas pipeline was blown up, while a polio team escaped another attack unhurt.
In a bomb attack on a bus in Peshawar, nine people were killed and 10 were injured.
In Khyber Agency, a public school and two houses of anti-Taliban peace committee members were blown up.
In North Waziristan, an IED explosion killed seven security personnel and injured 18.
Six terrorist attacks affected the most people during the reporting week, leaving 16 people dead and 28 injured – two incidents each in Khyber Agency and Karachi and one each in North Waziristan Agency and Peshawar. Two incidents of sectarian violence killed four people while as many were killed in two targeted attacks.
In 13 incidents of electoral violence, 23 people were killed and 54 injured during the reporting week. Five attacks were aimed at the ANP, two targeted the PPP and one each hit the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the Sunni Tehreek (ST), the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and an independent candidate.
In Charsadda, an ANP candidate and his two supporters were injured when their car was hit by a roadside bomb.
Another ANP leader escaped unhurt in another attack, also in Charsadda.
In Peshawar, four policemen and 11 workers at an ANP election rally – were killed and 50 others injured in a suicide attack. A grenade was thrown at the house of a PPP candidate in Peshawar, however no one was hurt.
In Swabi, a grenade attack on an ANP candidate left one worker injured while in Swat, an ANP candidate was killed when a bomb went off near his car. Two supporters of an independent candidate were killed and three injured in a firing incident in Dera Ismail Khan. An independent candidate’s election office was blown up in North Waziristan Agency while a BNP-M election office was attacked in Quetta. One worker each of the MQM and the ST was shot dead in Karachi. In an attack on a PML-N candidate’s motorcade in Khuzdar, four people were killed and 25 injured. In Muzaffargarh, one person was killed and three injured in an attack on a PPP candidate.
