At least 29 people have been killed, including a parliamentary candidate, and scores wounded in two separate election-related bombings in Pakistan on July 13, authorities say.
Pakistani police said a suicide bomber struck a campaign convoy near the southwestern city of Quetta, killing at least 25 people, including Siraj Raisani, a candidate running in the July 25 general elections. At least 30 people were wounded in that attack.
Home Secretary Haider Ali Shikoh confirmed that Raisani, who was a member of the Balochistan Awami Party, had died.
Earlier in the day, at least four people were killed and at least 32 were wounded in a bomb blast targeting another candidate.
Police said the blast targeted a convoy transporting former Housing and Works Minister Akram Khan Durrani, who escaped unharmed.
Durrani is a candidate for Muttahida Majlis-e Amal, an election alliance of radical religious groups.
Police said Durrani was on his way to address a campaign rally in the northwestern town of Bannu when a bomb planted on a motorcycle detonated.
WATCH: Blast Targets Pakistan Election Candidate
Durrani is running as a candidate for Bannu in the July 25 general election.
Speaking to reporters after the attack, Durrani said authorities had warned him about potential security threats.
"I remain safe but four of my allies have been martyred," he said, adding that he did not know who was behind the attack.
Durrani visited hospitals tending to the wounded, many of whom are party supporters.
Former cricket star Imran Khan, whose Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf party is gaining ground in opinion polls ahead of the elections, condemned the attack.
"There seems to be a conspiracy to sabotage the 25 July elections but the people of Pakistan will not allow any design intended to target these historic elections to succeed," Khan wrote on Twitter on July 13.
Durrani is the leader of Jamiat Ulema-e Islam, a hard-line religious party. He was the former chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the restive province in northwest Pakistan that borders Afghanistan.
No one claimed responsibility for the July 13 attacks, but it came after a suicide bomber attacked a crowd waiting for an election rally organized by the secular Awami National Party (ANP) in the northwestern city of Peshawar on July 10.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the July 10 attack that killed 20 people, including Haroon Ahmed Bilour, a candidate for a seat in the provincial legislature. Another 65 people were wounded.
