10 people dead in bomb blast at Karachi election office

At least 10 people, including four children, were killed and 24 wounded when a car bomb exploded outside an election office in Pakistan's commercial hub of Karachi. 

The bomb blast occurred on Friday, near the office of the Awami National Party's (ANP) candidate in the neighbourhood of Mominabad, police said, Al Jazeera reported. 

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the attack, phoning the AP news agency, AP reported.

The attack was the latest violence to occur in the approach to the historic elections on May 11. It is the second to hit Karachi in less than 24 hours, BBC reported.

Five people were killed Thursday in a bombing outside the office of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party, police said.

In this latest attack, the target was reportedly Bashir Jan, a local ANP candidate, who was set to address a meeting in the area, which is home to many ethnic Pashtuns, police said.

Differing accounts of where the bomb was planted surfaced however.

"It was an improvised explosive device planted in a Suzuki car," police spokesman Imran Shaukat said, Al Jazeera reported.

But police officer Zafar Bukhari told AP the bomb was planted on a motorbike.