DERA ISMAIL KHAN, March 20: The death toll in Sunday blast here rose to nine after a constable died in the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) in Islamabad on Monday.

Constable Bashir Hussain had been taken to Pims in a critical condition.

Tension prevailed in the

Dera city as police beefed up security measures ahead of the Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA).

Police have been ordered to increase patrolling in sensitive areas and instal light machine-guns on mobile vans and wear bullet-proof vests.

Official sources said that police had also been directed to take personnel of bomb disposal squads along before going to suspected places in the city.

Meanwhile, police driver Mohammad Khan was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard in Kattakhel village.

His funeral prayers were led by Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman. Mohammad Khan had also served as a guard of the opposition leader.

He was deputed at the cantonment police station on the day of the incident.