• Explosion kills at least 25 people at Islamist party election rally in Pakistan

    By Mustaq Yusufzai, Producer, NBC News

    PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- A suicide bombing at an Islamist party's election rally killed at least 25 people and injured 65 others Monday in Pakistan's Kurram tribal region, local officials said.

    Ulfat Hussai, an administrative official, said the leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) party, a candidate for the National Assembly from the region, was among the injured.

    Another government official said a suicide bomber blew himself up as JUI-F leader Munir Hussain Orakzai was about to leave the gathering in the village of Sewak after his speech to local tribesmen.

    Dr. Inayatullah Khan, administrator of the Agency Headquarters Hospital in Sadda, said 20 bodies and 65 injured had been brought to his hospital while the bodies of five others had been taken directly to their homes by relatives.

    Khan said the death toll could rise as half a dozen of the injured were still in critical condition.

    Officials at the scene said many of the dead appeared to have succumbed to blood loss. The village is in a remote mountainous area, making it impossible to quickly get victims to hospitals.

    Dr. Abdul Qadir, younger brother of Orakzai, said by telephone that he, his brother, two bodyguards and six close relatives were injured in the blast.

    "They have been taken to the hospital and their condition is out of danger," Qadir said from Parachinar, the headquarters of Kurram tribal region, which is near the Afghan border.

    He said the injured were being taken to hospitals in Parachinar and Sadda, the second-largest town of the volatile region.

    The Pakistani prosecutor investigating the assassination of the country's former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, has been shot and killed.  Chaudry Zulfikar Ali had also been involved in the investigation into the Mumbai massacre in 2008. His killing comes at a tense time as Pakistan prepares for national elections next week. An anti-Taliban candidate in Karachi was also murdered today. Sarah Smith has this report.

    Monday’s incident marked the first time a political gathering of a religious party such as JUI-F, considered pro-Taliban, had been targeted in the tribal areas.

    Taliban spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan called NBC News and claimed responsibility for the suicide attack.

    Ishan said Orakzai was their target, claiming that in the past five years, he had been involved with three major secular parties that the Taliban considers pro-American.

    The Taliban launched has launched an offensive that has killed several leaders and activists belonging to the three parties: the Pakistan People's Party, Mutahidda Qaumi Movement and Awami National Party. 

    Related:

    This story was originally published on Mon May 6, 2013 10:46 AM EDT

  • Pakistani soldier stoned to death over romance; girlfriend may be shot

    By Saud Mehsud, Reuters

    DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — A Pakistani soldier was publicly stoned to death on the order of a tribal court in the country's northwestern Kurram region for having a relationship with a local woman, government officials and tribesmen said Wednesday.

    Such tribal justice is a stark reminder of the difficulty in establishing a credible civilian administration in Pakistan's semi-autonomous region bordering Afghanistan, despite a series of military operations in the area and Western nations pouring in millions of dollars to help build infrastructure.

    Punjab native Anwar Din, 27, was posted last year to the Parachinar area of Kurram agency where he met Intizar Bibi, 19, while manning a checkpost near her home.


    The two embarked on a romantic relationship, tribal sources said, and he tried to elope with her when he was later posted to the disputed Kashmir region. It was not immediately clear what evidence there was, if any, of a romance.

    "The girl left her home on Monday and met Anwar Din when villagers saw them," said Munir Hussain, the head of the local jirga, or tribal court, that sentenced Din to death. "We took the girl into custody and took the boy to the local graveyard where he was stoned to death and buried."

    Din was killed on Monday, he added. A government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the jirga had ruled the woman must be shot to death. It was not immediately clear if this had already taken place.

    The army was not immediately available for comment.

    Kurram, the only part of Pakistan's largely lawless border region that has a significant Shiite population, is racked by sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite tribes. Anti-Shiite ideology from the Taliban and al Qaeda has meant years of bloody fighting.

    Bibi is Shiite while Din was Sunni, Hussain added.

    Tribal justice
    The Federally Administered Tribal Areas have never been fully integrated into Pakistan's administrative, economic or judicial system.

    Instead, families and tribes often take justice into their own hands, presiding over "jirgas" or "panchayats," gatherings of elders who hand down punishments including rape, killing and the bartering of women to settle scores and restore honor.

    In such tribal justice, women often fare far worse than men.

    Hussain said that the jirga had also requested that another Pakistani soldier, Saif Ullah, be handed over for helping the couple meet and coordinate the planned elopement.

    "The army is here for our security but if they engage in such activities we will not let them stay here," Hussain said. "This is an insult to tribal customs. We will revolt against this."

    Related: 

    A rare glimpse inside Pakistan's ground zero for terrorists

    Pakistan reeling from anti-Christian attack

    An A to Z guide to the Islamic Republic of 'Banistan'

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.