Explosion at election office in Pakistan kills at least 22 a day before voting

Two separate explosions outside election offices in an insurgency-hit area of ​​Pakistan killed at least 22 people and injured several others on Wednesday, officials said. This is a deadly reminder of the deteriorating security situation in the country as it heads towards national elections on Thursday.

In light of such security threats, Pakistani authorities have designated half of the country's approximately 90,000 polling stations as “sensitive” or “most sensitive” and deployed the military to secure them.

“Rest assured, we will not allow terrorists to undermine or sabotage this crucial democratic process,” said Jan Achakzai, minister of information in the province where Wednesday's explosions took place. said on social media.

But these types of attacks on election-related activities, including candidate targeting, have increased as Pakistan's campaign season has intensified. At least 21 attacks took place in January, killing 10 people and wounding 25, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank. Two candidates were killed, and several candidates narrowly escaped harm.

Islamic State's local affiliate and several Pakistani ethnic separatist groups have taken responsibility for attacks on election candidates and rallies in recent weeks. But no group has claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attacks.

The first blast occurred on Wednesday outside the election office of an independent candidate, Asfandyar Kakar, in the Pishin district of Balochistan province, about 72 kilometers from the provincial capital Quetta. Dr. Habib ur Rehman, a district health official, said at least 14 people were killed in the attack.

The explosion was so powerful that it killed many instantly, said Sharif Agha, a supporter of Mr. Kakar who witnessed the event. “People were screaming and bodies were scattered everywhere,” Mr Agha said.

Shortly after the first explosion, a second explosion occurred outside an election office of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, an Islamist party, in Qila Saifullah, a neighboring district that also borders Afghanistan.

Terrorism has surged in Pakistan, a country of 240 million people, since the Taliban took power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021. Most of the attacks have been carried out by Islamic State's regional affiliate known as Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K. and by the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, an ally and ideological twin of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

ISIS-K claimed responsibility for a January 30 bombing at a meeting of a candidate from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the party led by deposed Prime Minister Imran Khan. At least four people were killed in that attack, which took place in Balochistan's Sibbi district.

The wave of violence has fueled tensions between Taliban officials in Afghanistan and the Pakistani government, which has accused the Taliban of providing the Pakistani Taliban with a safe haven on Afghan territory – a claim Taliban officials deny.

The attacks have also fueled fears that the region could become a hotbed of international terrorism in the wake of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

Christina Goudbaum reporting contributed.