Quetta death toll from election day blast rises to 31

QUETTA: The death toll from Wednesday’s suicide bombing near a polling station in Quetta has risen to 31, Geo News reported citing officials.

A suicide blast ripped through voters outside a polling station near Eastern Bypass in Quetta on election day, martyring 31 including six policemen and two children as millions of Pakistanis voted in the nationwide elections.

Local officials said the bomber was trying to enter the polling station when police intervened and the attacker detonated his explosives.

Seventy of the injured remain under treatment at different hospitals, a hospital spokesperson said. Twenty-nine injured are being treated at Sandeman Provincial Hospital Quetta, while five of the injured were referred to CMH Quetta and 17 others were sent to BMC Hospital.

Authorities registered a case against the incident Thursday evening.

Officials said the body parts of the suicide bomber would be sent to a forensics laboratory.

Six policemen among 29 martyred in suicide attack outside Quetta polling station

Thirty-five others were injured in the attack

Balochistan suffered the brunt of a series of attacks that killed more than 180 people across Pakistan during the brief but acrimonious election campaign, including a blast in Mastung district which martyred nearly 150 people including local politician Siraj Raisani.

He was one of three election candidates killed by militant attacks during the election campaign.

The military stationed over 370,000 personnel nationwide to ensure security, bolstered by 450,000 police, on election day.