UPDATE - ‘Terror attack’ kills 15 in southwestern Pakistan ahead of general elections

UPDATES WITH NUMBER OF CASUALTIES; ADDS COMMENTS FROM PROVINCIAL INFORMATION MINISTER; REVISES HEADLINE, LEDE

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - At least 15 people have been killed and more than two dozen others injured in a “terrorist attack” near an election office in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday ahead of a high-stake national vote, officials said.

The blast, the latest in a string of poll-related violence, took place in the Pishin district of southwestern Balochistan province only a day before elections, the district’s Deputy Commissioner Juma Dad told reporters.

The blast, according to Dad, occurred when a good number of supporters of an independent candidate gathered outside his election office.

Dad said that the bomb was planted in a motorbike parked near the office.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Dr Habib, administrator of a local government hospital, told local broadcaster Geo News the death toll has risen to 15 and more than 30 injured have been brought to hospital, many of them in critical condition.

Footage aired on local broadcaster ARY News showed rescuers and local people shifting the bodies and injured into ambulances to transport them to the hospital.

Balochistan Information Minister Jan Achakzai told reporters that the blast is the latest attempt by “terrorists to sabotage the elections.”

"But I want to make it clear that the elections will go ahead as scheduled,” Achakzai maintained.

Nearly four dozen people, including 24 suspected terrorists and 14 security personnel, have been killed in a series of attacks in Balochistan and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces in less than two weeks.