PARACHINAR, May 6: A powerful explosion ripped through an election meeting of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) in central Kurram tribal region on Monday, killing at least 19 people and injuring over 75 others.

Bout foreign news agencies said 25 people had been killed in the bombing claimed by the Taliban.

Political administration officials and local people said the bomb apparently placed near the main stage of the venue of the rally, exploded when Munir Khan Orakzai, a former lawmaker and JUI-F candidate for NA-38, left the dais after addressing the meeting held at a seminary in Sewak area, about 14km south of Parachinar, the agency’s headquarters. The device was detonated by remote control.

Munir Orakzai, the apparent target of the attack, and Awin Din Shakir, a JUI-F candidate for NA-37, escaped unhurt. Ten people died on the spot and five in DHQ Hospital in Parachinar and Tehsil Hospital in Sadda. Twenty-three of the critically injured were taken to hospitals in Peshawar, but four of them died on the way.

An emergency was declared in the DHQ Hospital and local people rushed there and donated over 200 bags of blood.

People earlier helped Levies personnel in rescue work. Security forces cordoned off the area and started looking for assailants.

Noor Gul, one of the injured, told Dawn that about 3,000 people had gathered at the seminary.

“The bodies lay scattered on the floor and the injured were crying for help,” a witness said. The roof and walls of the seminary were destroyed.

Talking to reporters in Parachinar, Munir Orakzai said his party would not be deterred by “such cowardly acts”.

He said his rivals were afraid of his popularity. He ruled out involvement of Taliban in the attack and said he had no enmity with them.

He announced that he would pay Rs500,000 each to the families of the dead and Rs100,000 to the injured. He also promised to bear hospital costs of the injured.

Agencies add: The Taliban said their target was the lawmaker who had been elected as an independent but allied to the outgoing government.

“Basically it was an attack on Munir Orakzai, who was a part of the past government for five years,” Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

The Taliban have described the elections as un-Islamic and directly threatened three liberal, democratic parties — PPP, Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Awami National Party, preventing many of their most prominent candidates from openly campaigning.

“He (Munir Orakzai) supported the PPP and ANP government which launched several operations against us,” Ihsan said.

The Taliban denied that the JUI-F itself was the target.

Hospital administrator Inayatullah Khan said 25 people were killed in the blast and the death toll could rise because some victims were critically injured.

Interim Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso condemned the bomb blast and asked the authorities concerned to strengthen security for candidates.

Repeated calls for candidates to be granted more security have failed to stop a wave of attacks, most of them claimed by the Taliban.

Mohammad Jamil, a witness, said he had attended the JUI-F meeting with his brother and was in the dining hall of the seminary when the bomb went off. He said people attending the rally had been searched.

“There was a deafening sound which stunned me for a while, but I quickly moved out of the dining hall,” he said, describing a ‘hell-like’ situation.

“There were countless people bleeding and crying for help. My brother Khalil was among them.” The latest killings bring to 83 the number of people killed in attacks on politicians and parties since April 11, according to an AFP tally.

Monday’s blast shows that no side is immune from the violence and raises questions whether the Taliban have expanded their campaign beyond secular parties.