Pakistan: Blasts Target Shiite Election Office in Kohat, At Least 10 Shia Martyred

KOHAT, PESHAWAR (Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Two bombs exploded in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Peshawar and Kohat areas on Sunday killing at least eight persons and injuring 30 others.The first bomb exploded near the election office of NA-39′s independent Shiite candidate Syed Noor Akbar Alam on Hangu road in Kacha Pakka village of Kohat region killing at least 10 Shia people and injuring 25 others.The blast was heard across Kohat city and caused damage to nearby shops, buildings and parked cars.District Police Office Dilawar Bangash told that the bomb was a remotely-detonated device planted in a shop which was between the election offices of an independant candidate Noor Akbar who is contestint election from NA-39 and the election office of Awami National Party candidate Khursheed Begum, contesting from NA-14.He added that at least 10 kilograms of explosive material was used in its making and that the election offices of both the candidates were destroyed in the attack.Bomb Disposal Squad officials who reach the spot were also of the view that the bomb was planted.Some sources suggested that the attack was a suicide bombing.The wounded persons were shifted to nearby hospitals for treatment.Security forces have cordoned off the area.No one claimed responsibility for the attack till the filing of this story but sources said that Noor Akbar might have been targeted as he belonged to the Shia sect.Hours later, another bomb went off outside an election office in Maqsoodabad, a suburb of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Three persons were killed and 10 others, including three children, injured, police said.  An election office of an independent candidate Nasir Khan was targeted on Charsadda road in Peshawar’s Maqsoodabad area killing at least three persons and injuring 15 others.According to initial reports the bomb was planted on a motorcycle.The victims were shifted to Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar.Related: Prominent Shia Leader Injured, Guard Martyred in Terrorist Attack in Karachi/129