42 killed in suicide attack

At least 42 people were killed and over 90 injured in a suicide attack on Saturday on the office of a Pakistan People’s Party candidate in northwestern Pakistan, heightening security fears for Monday’s crucial parliamentary polls.

The suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the office of PPP candidate Riaz Hussain Shah at a market in Parachinar, the main town of the troubled Kurram Agency, officials said Shah, who along with his supporters was returning from a rally escaped unhurt, officials said.

Limbs and body parts lay strewn all over the site of the attack, which occurred hours before the end of the violnce-marred campaign.

The suicide bombing was the latest in a string of such attacks on election rallies and candidates in northwestern Pakistan.

PPP chief and former premier Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a suicide attack on December 27 and the violence that erupted after her death forced the Election Commission to postpone the polls by six weeks.