Two bombings have taken place in northwest Pakistan this week, as the nation's elections mount pressure and tensions.

17 people were killed in a bombing on Tuesday, police told the Associated Press. This ups the death and attack toll on candidates, party workers and civilians to more than 100 since the beginning of this month.

The Taliban have planned and executed a handful of attacks in the days before May 11's national elections-most of them targeted parties that publicly go against the militants, and instead support the nation's army, who has tried to clear out Taliban hiding places in the northwest.

In one of the deadlier attacks, a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle set off an explosive close to a car transporting one candidate from an authoritarian Islamist party called the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party. The blast killed 12 and wounded 35 bystanders, according to police officer Haleem Khan.

The candidate, Mufti Syed Janan, escaped unscathed, after his vehicle procession passed through a market in Doaba, located in the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam was struck by another bomb just one day before in the northwest Kurram tribal region. 25 people died from the attack, and 70 more were wounded, Khan said. However, the candidate was, once more, not hurt.

Earlier that day, in the Babagam village of the same province, a bomb placed by the side of the road struck a vehicle that carried Pakistan People's Party leader Zahir Shah, two of his guards and two of his supporters.

Khan said that Shah was campaigning for his brother, who is up for provincial assembly in the upcoming elections.

Pakistani Taliban spokesperson Ahsanullah Ahsan told AP that the Taliban were not responsible for the first attack, but did confirm the militants carried out the second one, despite Pakistani Taliban allegedly saying they did, indeed, carry out the attacks on Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam.

The bombings have caused this week's elections to become bloody and violent-it has affected not only the secular parties, but Islamists as well.

Additionally, concerns that the attacks could benefit parties that are more supportive of militant parties have risen.

Some militants are warning the public to steer clear of the polls on election day. Citizens worry another attack could happen, but are uncertain of that possibility.