Bombings at election offices kill 24 in Pakistan day before elections

Paramilitary soldiers stand guard on the side of a road for security ahead of the February 8 general elections in Karachi, Pakistan (Fareed Khan/AP)

Two bombings at the election offices of a political party and an independent candidate in south-west Pakistan have killed at least 24 people and wounded more than two dozen others just days before parliamentary elections are due to be held.

The first attack happened on Wednesday in Pashin, a district in Baluchistan province, said Jan Achakzai, the spokesman for the provincial government.