RAWALPINDI – Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa condemnedFriday’s suicide bombing in Mastung that killed an election candidate among85 others and left more than 100 injured.

The blast in the town of Mastung, near the Balochistan provincial capitalQuetta, came hours after another bomb killed at least four people at acampaign rally in Bannu in the country s northwest.

“Death toll has risen to 85,” Balochistan health minister Faiz Kakar toldAFP, adding that were more than 100 wounded. Earlier he had said 70 peoplewere killed.

According to senior provincial official Saeed Jamali, the bomber detonatedin the middle of a compound where a political meeting was taking place.Another senior official, Qaim Lashari, also confirmed it had been a suicideblast.

The explosion killed Siraj Raisani, who was running for a provincial seatwith the newly formed Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), provincial homeminister Agha Umar Bungalzai told AFP.

“Mir Siraj Raisani succumbed to wounds while he was being shifted toQuetta,” he added. Raisani was the younger brother of former provincialchief minister Mir Aslam Raisani.

The explosion comes hours after four people were killed and 39 injured whena bomb hidden inside a motorcycle detonated near a politician s convoy inBannu on Friday, near the Afghan border.

The earlier bomb was targeting the convoy of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal(MMA) candidate Akram Khan Durrani, who survived the attack, police said.