Political leader among 14 killed in Pakistan suicide blast
Islamabad, July 11 : At least 14 people, including a political leader, were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up late on Tuesday in Peshawar in Pakistan, police said.
Awami National Party (ANP) candidate Barrister Haroon Bilour was among the deceased. The blast also wounded many people, Geo News reported, citing police.
The explosion occurred moments after Bilour arrived at the venue, near the stage, to address supporters at the meeting as welcoming party members and admirers engaged in a display of fireworks, which the bomber made use of as his cover.
The late ANP candidate was set to contest the July 25 elections from Peshawar's PK-78 constituency.
Nearly eight kilos of TNT explosives were used in the blast, Qazi Jamil, the capital city police officer (CCPO) of Peshawar said.
The Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) confirmed that the blast was a suicide attack.
Speaking about the incident, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (retired) Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan condemned the terrorist attack and termed it a "weakness of security institutions".
The attack was a conspiracy against the transparent elections, the CEC said, noting that the provincial governments were ordered to provide fool-proof security to all candidates.
On the other hand, ANP leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the government had failed to provide security to the party. "Perhaps someone wishes to sabotage the elections... wants to push ANP out of the electoral race," he said.
However, the "ANP will fully participate in the elections", he added.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
