Death toll in election rally bombing rises to 149

The death toll from a suicide attack on an election rally in Baluchistan on Friday has risen to 149, officials said, putting it among the deadliest attacks in the south Asian nation’s history.

As campaigning steps up for general elections on July 25, bombings across Pakistan have stoked fears of more violence in the country of 208mn, where political rallies can draw tens of thousands of people.

Friday’s attack at a rally for the Baluchistan Awami Party (BAP) outside the town of Mastung was claimed by the Islamic State.

Among the dead was the party’s provincial candidate, Siraj Raisani.

A video clip showed Raisani beginning his speech just before the attack, greeting crowds seated on the ground under a large tent before the blast hit and the image cut off.

Provincial government officials said they were not told about the rally and so had not provided security to Raisani, beyond the bodyguards in his security detail.

“The death toll of Mastung carnage is now 149,” senior police official Qaim Lashari told Reuters, adding that more than 180 people were wounded and the dead included nine children.

Violence in Pakistan has ebbed since the military began major operations against Taliban militants along the border with Afghanistan following a shocking 2014 attack on a Peshawar school that killed 153 .