Pakistan Taliban bomb politicians' offices, kill 9

Associated Press, Pakistan | World | Sun, April 28 2013, 8:08 PM

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Pakistani Taliban detonated bombs at the campaign offices of two politicians in the country's northwest on Sunday, police said, killing at least nine people in an escalation of attacks on secular, left-leaning political parties.
In first attack, on the outskirts of Kohat city, a bomb ripped through the office of Syed Noor Akbar, killing six and wounding 10 people, police official Mujtaba Hussain said.
A second bomb targeted a campaign office of another candidate, Nasir Khan Afridi, in the suburbs of Peshawar city. That attack killed three people and wounded 12, police official Saifur Rehman Khan said.
Both politicians, who were not in the offices at the time of the blasts, are running as independent candidates for national assembly seats to represent constituencies in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas, where scores of militant groups operate including some with links to al-Qaida. The general elections will be held on May 11.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for both attacks, as well as two others against secular political parties in the southern port city of Karachi.
"We are against all politicians who are going to become part of any secular, democratic government," he told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location.
The Taliban previously announced a strategy to target three political parties, including the Awami National Party (ANP), the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). All three are perceived as liberal, having earned the Taliban's ire by opposing the insurgency and extremism during their time in the outgoing government.

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