Candidate among 2 shot dead amid escalating violence ahead of elections in Pakistan

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - At least two people, including an independent candidate affiliated with jailed former Premier Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI,) were killed and nine others injured in election-related violence in Pakistan, according to police.

Rehan Zeb Khan, who was running for elections from the Bajaur tribal district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was gunned down by unknown assailants while he was campaigning, Police Chief Rasheed Khan told reporters.

Three others were also injured in the shooting, he added.

A local leader of the Awami National Party (ANP), a nationalist political party, was gunned down in an attack on an election office in the Chaman district of southwestern Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan, said police. Another party worker was injured in the attack, said ANP's Balochistan President Asghar Achakzai.

Unknown attackers hurled a hand grenade at an election office of the center-left Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in Balochistan's capital, Quetta, injuring five people.

The incidents are the latest in a string of violence across the country ahead of the Feb. 8 general elections.

On Tuesday, a PTI rally was bombed in the Sibi district of southwestern Balochistan province, killing four people, including three party workers.

A political activist was killed and several injured in an armed clash between supporters of the PPP and Muttehida Quami Movement in the commercial capital of Karachi last week.

Rallies and offices of several parties have been attacked in recent weeks in different parts of Pakistan in the lead-up to the national vote.