Troops in Pakistan’s Sindh and Balochistan provinces on alert after violence ahead of polls

Police say there have been around 40 attacks or bombings since Sunday (representative)

Karachi:

With just 48 hours to go until the general election, attacks on election candidates and election commission offices have surged in Pakistan’s Sindh and Balochistan provinces, prompting greater deployment of security forces in troubled areas.

Election violence has left at least seven people dead in Karachi, Nushki and Sibi since Sunday night.

Militants attacked an election rally of National Assembly candidates of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in Sibi, killing four people and injuring six others. In a separate incident, at least three people were seriously injured after Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidates were shot at and grenades hurled at their homes.

A 12-year-old boy died in a clash between PPP and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) workers in Karachi on Monday night.

Police officials said there have been around 40 attacks or explosions with grenades and weapons on candidate election camp offices in 10 districts of Balochistan since Sunday.

A police officer said: “The worst-affected districts in Balochistan include Turbat, Panjgur, Gwadar, Mastung, Kalat, Khuzdar, Sibi, Sourab and Quetta. “

He said in most cases the electoral offices and candidate chambers of the PPP, BN-Mengal, National Party and BNP-Awami were targeted.

Most of the nationalist parties in Balochistan contest the elections without forming an alliance with any mainstream party.

Another police official in Karachi said PPP candidate Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah was ambushed by armed men in Mirpur Khas, Sindh on Monday night and his vehicle was riddled with bullets, causing him to Seriously wounded, one of his guards was killed.

Unidentified men on motorcycles hurled six grenades at the election office of PPP candidate Mir Ali Hasan Zeri in Habu town on the border with Karachi on Monday night.

“Three children were injured in the attack. Zeri was not present,” said Sohrab Khan, a local police officer.

Three explosions occurred in Kalan district of Balochistan province and unknown armed men attacked a school building where a polling station was proposed. Several school buildings, including a girls’ school, were damaged in Monday’s grenade attack.

Armed men opened fire on the residence of Balochistan National Party (BNP-A) Chairman Mir Asad Baloch in Panjgur on Monday. A grenade was also thrown at a Baloch home. Security guards returned fire, causing the attacker to flee the scene.

The house of former Senate Vice Chairman Sabir Baloch, a National Assembly candidate from Turbat-Panjgur, was also attacked by armed men who fired at his residence.

Unidentified men on motorcycles also used grenades to attack party election offices and election commission offices in Nushki and other areas of Makran in restive Balochistan province on Monday.

Militants are also active in Kalam district, where the election office of National Assembly candidate Sardar Changiz Khan Sassoli was twice hit by grenade attacks.

In the towns of Turbat and Tuppu, unidentified assailants fired at the house of PPP leader Barkat Baloch while throwing pellets at the house of PPP provincial council candidate Mir Agha Rind in the same area Grenade.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)