A bomb attack targeting an election candidate’s office in northwest Pakistan on Sunday killed at least eight people and wounded 22

A bomb attack targeting an election candidate's office in northwest Pakistan on Sunday killed at least eight people and wounded 22, police said, the latest violence ahead of polls next month.
  
The device exploded outside the office of an independent candidate in the garrison city of Kohat, which is adjacent to Pakistan's restive tribal areas along the Afghan border.
  
Violence has marred the campaign for the landmark May 11 general election, with more than 50 people dead in blasts and suicide attacks since April 11, according to an AFP tally, including nearly 20 in the past three days.
  
Sunday's attack came at the campaign office of Noor Akbar Khan, who is running in the Orakzai tribal district. He is canvassing for votes among the numerous Orakzai residents forced to flee the district to Kohat by army operations against militants.
  
"The IED was planted outside the election office. At least five people have been killed and 22 injured," city police chief Dilawar Khan Bangash told AFP earlier. Fazal Naeem, a police spokesman in Kohat, confirmed the attack and told AFP the blast had damaged shops and vehicles nearby and also hit an office of the Awami National Party (ANP), which has been targeted repeatedly by the Taliban.

Three blasts in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city and commercial heart, on Saturday killed at least three people and wounded 49. Two of the bombs hit the offices of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which along with the ANP were coalition partners in the outgoing national government, led by the PPP.