PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suicide bomber killed 7 people and wounded 29 on a busy road here early on Monday, officials said, in the latest episode of violence as Pakistan moves nervously toward elections scheduled for May 11.
An attacker riding a motorcycle detonated his explosives near a police patrol car on the busy University Road during the morning rush hour, killing a police constable and several bystanders, a senior police official said.
“He was trying to get closer to the target but probably couldn’t get through the rush and exploded just a few feet away from the target,” said the officer, Faisal Kamran.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, although the Taliban have carried out a relentless series of attacks against secular political parties across the country in recent weeks, as part of a drive to influence the forthcoming election.
Officials in Peshawar said that Monday’s attack was different in that it did not appear to target a specific party, but aimed instead to foster a broader climate of fear during the sensitive campaign season.
“The target was neither an election camp office nor a candidate of the parties on the hit list,” a government official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “This may not be directly linked to the elections, but it certainly is part of the campaign to create fear among people ahead of the polls, which militants say are un-Islamic.”
Taliban attacks have largely focused on the Awami National Party, a secular-minded party that has governed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, in the northwest, since 2008. The party says that 700 of its activists have been killed by the Taliban in the past five years.
But the Taliban have also attacked two other secular parties, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Pakistan People’s Party, in the port city of Karachi, where at least 25 people have died in attacks on election offices over the past week.
In a statement issued on Monday, Human Rights Watch said that at least 70 people had died in 44 election-related attacks carried out by the Taliban and other armed groups since early April.
The group called on the interim government to take “all necessary steps,” including possible military deployments, to ensure the safety of candidates and political activists in the run-up to the election.
An attacker riding a motorcycle detonated his explosives near a police patrol car on the busy University Road during the morning rush hour, killing a police constable and several bystanders, a senior police official said.
“He was trying to get closer to the target but probably couldn’t get through the rush and exploded just a few feet away from the target,” said the officer, Faisal Kamran.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, although the Taliban have carried out a relentless series of attacks against secular political parties across the country in recent weeks, as part of a drive to influence the forthcoming election.
Officials in Peshawar said that Monday’s attack was different in that it did not appear to target a specific party, but aimed instead to foster a broader climate of fear during the sensitive campaign season.
“The target was neither an election camp office nor a candidate of the parties on the hit list,” a government official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “This may not be directly linked to the elections, but it certainly is part of the campaign to create fear among people ahead of the polls, which militants say are un-Islamic.”
Taliban attacks have largely focused on the Awami National Party, a secular-minded party that has governed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, in the northwest, since 2008. The party says that 700 of its activists have been killed by the Taliban in the past five years.
But the Taliban have also attacked two other secular parties, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Pakistan People’s Party, in the port city of Karachi, where at least 25 people have died in attacks on election offices over the past week.
In a statement issued on Monday, Human Rights Watch said that at least 70 people had died in 44 election-related attacks carried out by the Taliban and other armed groups since early April.
The group called on the interim government to take “all necessary steps,” including possible military deployments, to ensure the safety of candidates and political activists in the run-up to the election.