35 killed in Pakistan as voting ends

■ Suicide bomber blows up when stopped from entering polling station; ISIS claims responsibility

Karachi/ Peshawar, July 25: An Islamic State of Iraq and Syria suicide bomber blew himself up outside a polling station killing 35 people in Pakistan’s southwestern Quetta city on Wednesday and four others were murdered in poll- related violence as the country went to polls to elect a new government.

The suicide bomber blew himself up after he was stopped from entering the Tameer- i- Nau Education Complex school, which is serving as a polling station in ‘ sensitive’ NA- 260 constituency in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, police said.

Earlier reports had said the bomber targeted a police van.

At least 31 people, including five policemen, were killed and 60 others injured in the blast in the Bhosa Mandi area of the provincial capital.

The bomber wanted to enter the polling station near Quetta’s Eastern Bypass but failed due to heavy presence of the Frontier Corps and the police in and outside the polling station, senior police officer Ejaz Goraya said.

“The bomber then blew himself up near a police van outside the polling station. I can confirm that the suicide attack has left 31 people dead and around 32 have been shifted to the Civil Hospital,” he said.

The ISIS terror group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Pakistan Army has stationed over 3,70,000 personnel across the country to ensure security for the election, bolstered by an additional 4,50,000 police.

In KhyberPakhtunkhwa’s Swabi district, supporters of two rival political parties exchanged fire outside a polling station, killing a worker of former cricketer Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek- e- Insaf ( PTI) and injuring two others, police said.

The PTI worker was killed as party activists clashed with Awami National Party ( ANP) workers outside a polling station for NA- 19 ( Swabi II) and PK- 47 ( Swabi V) in Nawan Kali area.

Another person was killed in firing outside a Mirpurkhas polling station in NA- 219 Dighri area, the report said.

In a separate incident, one person was killed while five others injured in a cracker blast outside a political camp in Larkana.

— AFP, AP Pakistani security personnel gather at the site of a suicide attack near a polling station in Quetta on Wednesday. ( Right) A Pakistani woman mourns the death of her family member outside a hospital in Quetta.