Blast at ANP rally in Quetta kills 8

QUETTA (PAN’s southwestern province of Balochistan, bordering Kandahar, on Friday.

The bomb planted on a bicycle hit a rally of the Pakhtun nationalist Awami National Party (ANP) in the Kachlak Bazaar of Quetta, the provincial capital, a local police official told reporters.

One ANP leader, identified as Malik Qasim, and an eight-year-old child were among the fatalities, while the injured included some party activists, Abdul Khaliq said.  

He added the explosion happened hours before Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf’s schedule arrival in the city, and 15 minutes after the public meeting got under way. Security personnel cordoned off the area soon and launched an investigation.

Witness Mohammad Akram told Pajhwok Afghan News some party workers fired into the air, as panic gripped the participants of the rally. Markets and shops were closed in the neighbourhood.

Another police officer, who did not want to be named, said the deaths resulted from intense gunfire following the blast, in which ANP provincial president Aurangzeb Kasi and his wife were also injured.

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