Pakistan: Minor Blast Outside Election Commission Office In Karachi, No Casualties Reported

A blast occurred outside the Election Commission of Pakistan's provincial headquarters in Karachi ahead of the national assembly elections on Thursday.

A small explosion happened outside Pakistan's Election Commission office in Karachi. (Image used for representational purposes only)

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A minor explosion happened outside the provincial office of the Pakistan Election Commission in Karachi, after a bag containing an IED, found in the parking lot, was thrown in the garbage, news agency PTI reported. DIG Syed Asad Raza, a senior police official, revealed that the plastic bag containing the IED explosive had been placed in the parking lot of the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) provincial headquarters.

He said that the bag contained an IED with a timer that was set to detonate between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., but a worker on the cleaning duty noticed it and threw it into the garbage outside the building, PTI reported.

Although a minor explosion occurred upon the disposal of the bag, however, the 400-gram bomb which was attached to a timer device, failed to detonate fully. No casualties were reported after the incident. 

Raza said that the ECP office was the intended target of the bomb. He said that if the bomb had gone off inside the parking lot, it could have caused casualties and significant damage, PTI reported.

With elections in Pakistan round the corner, there has been an increase in violence in various regions. Recently, there was a clash between two groups in the New Karachi area during campaigning, which resulted in the death of a worker. 

On Wednesday, a national assembly candidate and another political leader were shot dead in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, respectively, reported Reuters.

On Tuesday, four people were killed in Balochistan due to a bomb attack at an election rally by the Islamic State. 

In response to these heightened violent incidents, the ECP held an emergency meeting to assess similar incidents in Karachi, Quetta, and parts of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and Balochistan. Subsequently, the ECP announced to beef up security measures ahead of the elections. 

However, Chief Electoral Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja said that the ECP will conduct the national polls as scheduled on Thursday with the help of the army and security agencies, Reuters reported.