Three Taliban bomb attacks targeting election offices and a candidate in Pakistan on Sunday killed at least nine people, officials said, the latest bloodshed ahead of polls next month.
Violence has marred the campaign for the landmark May 11 general election, with more than 50 people dead in blasts and suicide attacks since April 11, according to an AFP tally, including more than 20 in the past three days.
Five people died and 22 were wounded on Sunday in a blast at the office of an independent candidate in the northwestern garrison city of Kohat, adjacent to Pakistan’s restive tribal areas along the Afghan border.
A blast at the offices of another independent candidate in Peshawar, the main city of the northwest, killed three people and wounded 13, officials said.
The Kohat blast occurred at the campaign office of Noor Akbar Khan, who is running in the Orakzai tribal district. He is canvassing for votes among the numerous Orakzai residents forced to flee the district to Kohat by army operations against militants.
Amnesty International has called on Pakistan to investigate the recent wave of attacks and ensure adequate protection for election candidates.
May 11 national polls should see power pass from a civilian government that has served a full term to another through the ballot box for the first time in the nuclear-armed country’s turbulent history.
