Islamabad - A suicide bomber targeting the office of an election candidate in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas killed at least 10 people Saturday on the final day of campaigning for crucial parliamentary elections, officials and local reports said. The attack occurred at the office of independent candidate Riaz Hussain Shah in the tribal district of Parachinar, near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. At least 12 people were injured.
Shah told the Express news channel that he had been addressing a rally nearby when he heard the blast.
"Ten bodies have been brought to the hospital, and more than a dozen are injured," Amir Mohammed, a medical official at the hospital in Parachinar, said.
Pakistan has been rocked by dozens of suicide bombings in the past year that has killed more than 1,000 people, including four in the past week in the restive North-West Frontier Province, which includes the tribal belt and where Taliban and al-Qaeda militants are active.
Parachinar also has a history of sectarian violence between Sunni and minority Shiite tribesman, including clashes late last year that killed more than 350 people.
