The suicide bomber behind the Mastung attack has been identified by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), Balochistan police said on Thursday.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) CTD Aitzaz Ahmed Goraya made this announcement at a press conference held in Quetta to brief the media regarding the investigation into the attack.

The Mastung bombing which took place on July 13 during a corner meeting organised by Mir Siraj Raisani — a Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) candidate for PB-35 (Mastung) — claimed the lives of 128 people while injuring more than 200. The attack was the deadliest since the 2014 carnage at Peshawar's Army Public School.

DIG Goraya said that the man behind the suicide bombing has been identified as Hafeez Nawaz. He was a resident of Mirpur Sakro, 33km away from Thatta.

The bomber's brother and sister had reportedly moved to Afghanistan two years ago.

The senior officer appreciated the efforts and cooperation of the Karachi CTD towards the investigation.

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He said that no facilitator of the bombing had yet been arrested while adding that the facilitators are suspected to be local residents.

"The suicide bomber was seated in the fourth row during the corner meeting. He stepped forward to stand near the stage before detonating his explosives," revealed Goraya.

Providing further details into the investigation, he said that the police had recovered the bomber's hand from the scene of the crime, which enabled them to ascertain his identity through fingerprinting.

The DIG added that the forensic team had collected samples from the site and a report of their findings is expected soon.