Grenade attack on election office kills one in Balochistan

Suspects target election office of PPP provincial leader Sardar Umar Gorgage.

QUETTA: A grenade attack on an election office in Balochistan on Thursday killed one person and injured another, officials said, in the latest violence ahead of historic polls next month.

Senior government official Shah Irfan said two men riding a motorcycle threw the grenade at the election office of Sardar Umar Gorgage, a provincial leader in the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

Irfan said the attack took place in Nushki district, some 170 kilometres west of Quetta.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has directly threatened the outgoing coalition partners, the PPP, Awami National Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which are perceived as secular.

Tariq Zehri, another senior government official, confirmed the attack and told AFP that "one of the two victims later died in hospital".