Bombings kill 25 in southwestern Pakistan ahead of general election

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – At least 25 people were killed and dozens of others injured in two separate “terrorist attacks” in Pakistan on Wednesday ahead of a high-stake national vote, officials said.

The first blast, the latest in a string of poll-related violence, took place in the Pishin district of southwestern Balochistan province only a day before elections, the district’s Deputy Commissioner Juma Dad told reporters.

The blast, according to Dad, occurred when a good number of supporters of an independent candidate were outside his election office.

Dad said that the bomb was planted in a motorbike parked near the office.

Dr Habib, administrator of a local government hospital, told local broadcaster Geo News the death toll has risen to 15 and more than 30 injured have been brought to the hospital, many of them in critical condition.

Hours later, another bomb attack in the nearby Qila Saifullah district left at least 10 people dead and several others injured.

Balochistan Information Minister Jan Achakzai told Anadolu that the blast targeted an election office of Jamiat Ulema Islam.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Footage aired on local broadcaster ARY News showed rescuers and local people shifting the bodies and injured into ambulances to transport them to the hospital.

Achakzai said that the attacks are the latest attempt by “terrorists to sabotage the elections.”

“But I want to make it clear that the elections will go ahead as scheduled,” Achakzai maintained.

Nearly four dozen people, including 24 suspected terrorists and 14 security personnel, have been killed in a series of attacks in Balochistan and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces in less than two weeks.