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A bomb ripped through a campaign rally of a leading Islamist party in Pakistan on Monday, killing 14 people and wounding dozens more, a government official said as the run-up to the country's election on 11 May becomes increasingly dangerous.
A suicide bomber targeted an election rally organised by a religious party in Pakistan on Monday, killing 25 people, officials said.
The blast, at a rally held in the north-west Kurram tribal region by the Jamiat-e-Ulema party, is the latest incident of violence targeting candidates, political offices and election-related events as Saturday's election approaches.
The attack at a gathering of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam religious party wounded 65 people, they said.
Much of the violence is believed to have been carried out by the Taliban against liberal and secular parties but Monday's blast targeted a party believed to have a more favourable relationship with the militant group.
Pakistan's Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing.
The bomb, which was apparently planted near the main stage of the rally, killed 14 and wounded 50 people, said Javed Khan, a government administrator in the Kurram tribal region.
Taliban attacks have marred the election, with some candidates afraid to campaign.
Two party leaders who were speaking at the event escaped unhurt, Khan said.
Since April, the group has killed more than 90 people in attacks on three major political parties, preventing many of their most prominent candidates from openly campaigning.
One of the candidates, Ainuddin Shakir, told a local television station that the bomb went off just as the candidates were leaving the stage.
But until now the Taliban has targeted secular parties in its bid to undermine the election, which it regards as unIslamic.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast.
The attack in the Kurram region, an ethnic Pashtun area near the Afghan border, will raise questions about whether the Taliban have expanded their campaign beyond secular parties.
The Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam party is considered supportive of the Afghan Taliban's fight against the US and its allies.
A hospital administrator, Inayatullah Khan, said 25 people had been killed in the blast and the death toll could rise because some victims were critically injured.
It is also sympathetic to the Pakistani Taliban, who have been fighting Pakistani troops and would like to establish a hardline Islamic government in the country. The group's leaders have generally opposed the army's operations against militants in the tribal region and instead called for negotiating with the militants.
The Taliban have in recent weeks attacked secular Pakistani parties that have in general supported military intervention against the militants in the tribal regions.
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guardian.co.uk today is our daily snapshot of the top news stories, sent to your inbox at 8am
