QUETTA: At least four people were killed Tuesday in a bombing near a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) election rally in Sibi, officials said, as the nation prepares to go to the polls next week.

Police in Quetta said a bomb planted on a motorbike detonated as supporters rallied for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

“The PTI rally was passing by there but it is not clear whether the rally was a target or not,” senior police official Farhan Zahid told AFP.

Waseem Baig, a provincial health department spokesman, said six people were wounded in addition to the four killed.

In a statement, PTI said three of its activists were among the dead at the rally — a convoy of motorbikes and cars parading through the city to curry support for a candidate ahead of national elections scheduled for February 8.

A party spokesman told AFP it was too soon to say whether they had been deliberately targeted.

Pakistan’s electoral commission said it was investigating.

The attack came just hours after PTI founder Khan was sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of having leaked classified state documents.