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The local affiliate of the Islamic State 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\u2019s attacks.<\/p>\n
The first blast on Wednesday occurred outside the election office of an independent candidate, Asfandyar Kakar, in the Pishin district of Balochistan Province, about 45 miles from the provincial capital, Quetta. Dr. Habib ur Rehman, a district health official, said that at least 14 people had been killed in the attack.<\/p>\n
The explosion was so powerful that many died instantly, said Sharif Agha, a supporter of Mr. Kakar\u2019s who witnessed the event. \u201cPeople were screaming, and bodies were scattered everywhere,\u201d Mr. Agha said.<\/p>\n
Shortly after the first blast, 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Terrorism has surged in Pakistan, a country of 240 million, since the Taliban took power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021. Most of the attacks have been carried out by the regional Islamic State affiliate, known as the 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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ISIS-K claimed responsibility for a Jan. 30 bomb attack on a rally of a candidate from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the party led by the ousted prime minister Imran Khan. At least four people were killed in that attack, which occurred in the Sibbi district of Balochistan.<\/p>\n
The surge in violence has fueled tensions between Taliban officials in Afghanistan and the Pakistani government, which has accused the Taliban of offering safe haven to the Pakistani Taliban on Afghan soil \u2014 a claim that Taliban officials deny.<\/p>\n
The attacks have also stoked fears that the region could become a hotbed of international terrorism in the wake of the 2021 American withdrawal from Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
Christina Goldbaum contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n