At least 10 people were injured in a blast at the election office of a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) candidate in Razmak tehsil of North Waziristan tribal district on Tuesday, officials said.
“A huge explosion happened when I was inaugurating my election office in Razmak city,” Malik Aurangzeb Khan, PTI’s candidate from NA-48 was quoted as saying in media reports.
“At least 10 people were injured in the blast,” he said, adding that he could not confirm the nature of the explosion.
A local administration official was quoted in the media as saying that an unidentified person threw a grenade at the gathering. Afterwards, panic ensued in the area where around 100 to 150 supporters of Malik Aurangzeb were present. There was no immediate claim by any militant groups for the blast. North Waziristan is one of Pakistan’s seven tribal districts bordering Afghanistan. The Pakistan Army has conducted a series of operations there in recent years and claims to have flushed the militants out, with the region set to be merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Published in Daily Times, July 4th 2018.
