Twin blasts kill 22 on eve of Pakistan election

At least 22 people were killed Wednesday in two separate bomb blasts outside poll candidate offices in southwestern Pakistan, officials said, on the eve of an election marred by violence and allegations of poll-rigging.

The first attack occurred near the office of an independent candidate in Pishin district, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the city of Quetta and around 100 kilometres from the border with Afghanistan.

Caretaker information minister for Balochistan province Jan Achakzai and Quetta police both put the death toll from that blast at a dozen, with 25 more wounded.

A second blast hit near the election office of a candidate for the Islamist Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F (JUI-F) party in the city of Killa Saifullah — about 120 kilometres (75 miles) east — according to Achakzai.

“The incident took place in the main bazaar of the city area, where the election office of the JUI-F was targeted,” a senior police official told AFP.