Bombings, hours apart from each other, targeted campaign offices in south-western Pakistan on Wednesday.

This resulted in the death of at least 26 people ahead of the country’s general election, officials said.

The first bombing occurrence in the town of Pishin, in the volatile province of Balochistan, targeted a particular candidate a day ahead of voting, local official Jamal Uddin said.

It was confirmed that at least 14 people were killed and more than 30 were wounded with the bomb planted on a motorbike parked outside the office, police official Ikhtiar Mohamed said.

The candidate for the local constituency, Asfandyar Kakar, was not in the office at the time of the bombing, which made him unhurt.

The second bomb was targeted at the campaign office of another candidate in a nearby town of Qila Saifullah, killing 12 people and wounding others hours after the death of 14 people in the town of Pishin.

The police official, Mohamed Sabir, disclosed this on Wednesday.

None of the candidates’ groups claimed responsibility for the latest bombings.

It was said Balochistan had been the target of multiple groups of Islamist militants, including the Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic State militia.

Separatist rebels had also been launching deadly attacks on the security forces and civilians.

The violence by Islamist militants had surged in Pakistan for months now ahead of the vote on Thursday.

However, the north-western provinces of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, which share a border with Afghanistan, have seen a rise in violence since the Afghan Taliban came back to power in Afghanistan.

(dpa/NAN)