| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Blast toll reaches 47: Polls postponed in Parachinar |
| 2008-02-18 |
| The Election Commission (EC) on Sunday announced that it had postponed the February polls in NA-37 Parachinar. Around 47 people were killed and more than 150 wounded when a suicide bomber on Saturday rammed his explosives-laden car into the election office of an independent candidate in Parachinar. EC Secretary Kanwar Dilshad told Geo television channel that the general elections had been delayed after the provincial government requested the centre to do so in view of the volatile security situation that had gripped the area after Saturday’s blast. Earlier, authorities clamped a curfew in Parachinar, and called in troops. Senior local administration official Fida Mohammad Khan told AFP that the situation in the town was tense and security extremely tight. “We have imposed restrictions on movement of people in sensitive areas of the town,” he said. Paramilitary soldiers took up positions in the town to control violence. Agency Headquarters Hospital Casualty Medical Officer Dr Farhad Ali told APP that most of the injured were in critical condition. A resident of Parachinar, Khalil Shah, told AFP that gunfire was continuing in the town after Saturday’s blast. Supporters of the candidate whose election office was attacked burned down several shops and damaged some government buildings on Saturday, a security official said. |
| Posted by:Fred |