Separate bomb attacks kill 21 in Pakistan

In an attack on an election campaign rally in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Tuesday, 17 people were killed and 50 others were wounded after a bomber targeted Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, a senior leader of the Awami National Party, Dunya News reported.
 
Bilour escaped with a few bruises from the attack, for which the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility.
 
Earlier in the day, at least four people died in Khuzdar district in Balochistan province when a roadside bomb targeted a convoy of vehicles carrying Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, a parliamentary election candidate from the Pakistan Muslim League.
 
Zehri survived the attack, for which no one has claimed responsibility.
 
Thousands of Pakistanis have lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks since October 2001, when Pakistan joined an alliance with the United States in the so-called war against terrorism.
 
Since late 2009, there has been a surge in militant attacks in Pakistan and thousands more have been displaced by the wave of violence and militancy sweeping across the country.