Bomb blasts rock election offices, kill 9 in northwestern Pakistan

At least nine people have been killed and several others injured in bomb attacks on two election campaign offices in northwestern Pakistan.

On Sunday, at least six people lost their lives after a bomb detonated outside the office of Syed Noor Akbar Khan, a Shia Muslim candidate from Orakzai Agency, in the town of Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. Over 20 people were also injured in the bomb attack.

On the same day, a bomb also hit the office of another candidate in the suburbs of Peshawar, leaving three people dead.

Police say the office belongs to an independent candidate identified as Nasir Khan Afridi.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but police officials say the prime suspects are Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, who have carried out similar attacks in the past.

On April 27, at least five people were killed and 29 others injured in three bomb attacks in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi.

According to police officials, the first two bombs, which were planted near the office of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) in the Qasba Colony area, killed three people and injured 14 more on Saturday night.

About an hour later, a bomb exploded outside the office of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the Kumharwada area of the Lyari district. The blast killed two people and injured at least 15, including two PPP candidates.

Pakistan will hold elections on May 11 for 272 general seats of the National Assembly and a total of 577 seats in the four provincial assemblies.

Pakistani media say over 35,000 Pakistanis have lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks since 2001, when Pakistan entered an alliance with the United States in the so-called war on terror.