13 July 2018 Pakistan Bombings

On 13 July 2018, ahead of Pakistan's general election, two bombings took place at election rallies in Bannu and Mastung.

In Bannu, a remotely exploded bomb planted in a motorcycle left 5 people dead and 37 others wounded in an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Akram Khan Durrani. Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen, an extremist organization, claimed responsibility for the attack.

In Mastung, a suicide bomber blew himself up during a rally for the Balochistan Awami Party's Siraj Raisani, the brother of former Balochistan chief minister Aslam Raisani. One of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Pakistani history, it killed 149 people and wounded 186 others. Siraj was taken to hospital in critical condition and died of injuries. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the event and named the suicide bomber as Abu Bakar al-Pakistani, though authorities identified him as Hafeez Nawaz of Abbottabad.

Background

Pre-election violence

The attacks came 12 days before general elections. In the beginning of the month, a bombing took place in Ramzak Tehsil of North Waziristan at the office of Malik Aurangjeb Khan, Pakistan Movement of Justice's candidate for NA-48 (Tribal Area-IX), leaving 10 people injured. A week before the current attack in Bannu, a bomb planted in a motorcycle was remotely exploded at an election campaign of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal's PK–89 candidate Shein Malik in the Takhti Khel area of the city. Two days prior to the attacks, a suicide bombing at an election rally of the Awami National Party's leader Haroon Bilour in Peshawar left 20 people, including Bilour, dead and wounded 63 others. On 12 July, the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP)'s office in Khuzdar came under gunfire before a bomb detonated injuring 2 people.

ISIL in Pakistan

After the group's defeat in Iraq and Syria, many commanders of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fled to other countries where resistance was weak. Many fighters headed to Afghanistan where Al-Qaeda was fighting against the United States. Since ISIL's entry intervention in Pakistan, Balochistan has been a focus of its militancy. In 2016, ISIL claimed responsibility for two attacks in Quetta; one in August and the other in October. The following year, it perpetrated a suicide bombing at a shrine in Sehwan. In Mastung that year, the group carried out a suicide bombing to assassinate Deputy Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan Abdul Ghafoor Haideri.

Prior intelligence

Soon after the Peshawar ambush, National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) forwarded 12 threats to federal and provincial interior ministries, following which committee chairman Rahman Malik directed authorities to enhance security of politicians named by NACTA. In its report, NACTA named six politicians that can be targeted. The list included Durrani. The other five politicians included Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)'s chairman Imran Khan, Awami National Party leaders Asfandyar Wali and Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, Qaumi Watan Party's head Aftab Sherpao and Hafiz Saeed's son Talha Saeed. It also suggested that members of PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) were under threat.

Prime targets

Mastung

Siraj Raisani was a prominent member of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and was to contest the next elections from PB-35. The brother of former Chief Minister of Balochistan Aslam Raisani, Siraj has served as chairman of Muttahida Mahaz Balochistan (MMB), founded by his father. He merged MMB into the BAP on 3 June 2018. Earlier, in July 2011, Raisani had survived an assassination attempt after grenades were thrown at him. In the ambush, his son Hakmal Raisani was killed.

Bannu

Akram Khan Durrani has served as chief minister of KPK from 2002 to 2