Nine dead in Karachi bomb attack on ANP

More than 40 injured in the attack, including six children.

KARACHI: At least nine people were killed and more than 40 injured -- including six children -- in an explosion near an Awami National Party (ANP) office in the Mominabad area of Orangi Town on Friday, reported Express News.

According to the bomb disposal squad explosives were planted in a rickshaw. The explosives were attached to a remote-controlled device.

The explosion, targeting a corner meeting of the party, was heard in several areas of the city including North Nazimabad, Gurumandir and Soldier Bazaar.

DIG West Zafar Bukhari said that the blast targeted ANP candidate Bashir Jan, but he remained safe in the incident.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for bomb attacks on two ANP candidates in Karachi, which killed and injured dozens of people. TTP spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, claimed responsibility in a telephonic call late Friday.

The caretaker chief minister of Sindh condemned the attack and ordered the IG Sindh to submit a report of the incident.

It was an improvised explosive device planted in a Suzuki car, police spokesman Imran Shaukat said.

ANP has announced a peaceful day of mourning tomorrow.

Friday's blast was the second in the country's commercial hub of Karachi in less than 24 hours. Five people were killed on Thursday when a bomb exploded outside the office of secular Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party, police said.

The ANP and MQM were coalition partners in the outgoing Pakistan People's Party-led government and have been threatened by the Taliban.

All three parties are perceived as secular.

ANP, one of the largest political forces in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, is being targeted with increased frequency. The party has come under attack in K-P at least seven times over the past few weeks.

Deadly attacks targeting politicians or political parties have killed 34 people since April 11, according to an AFP tally.

May 11 national polls should see power pass from a civilian government that has served a full term to another through the ballot box for the first time in the country's turbulent history.