Pakistan Blast: The explosion took place when people were gathering on the occasion of Eid Miladun Nabi.
Karachi:
A powerful suicide bomber struck a mosque in Pakistan’s restive province of Balochistan on Friday, killing at least 52 people and wounding more than 50 others who had gathered to celebrate the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday, authorities said.
Hours later, another explosion at a mosque in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hangu town killed at least three people and injured five others.
The blast in Balochistan took place near Madina Mosque on Al Falah Road in Mastung district. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mastung’s Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Nawaz Gashkori, who was on duty for the rally, was among those killed.
The explosion occurred as people gathered to mark Eid Miladun Nabi, the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed.
City Station House Officer (SHO) Mohammad Javed Lehri said the explosion was a “suicide attack” and the bomber itself exploded next to DSP’s car.
The bombing came a day after the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) killed a key Islamic State (ISIS) commander in Mastung district.
Lehri said the injured are being shifted to a medical facility while a state of emergency has been declared in hospitals.
At least 52 people were killed and more than 50 injured in the blast in Mastung, district health officer Rashid Muhammad Saeed said.
Some of the injured were in critical condition. Officials were concerned that the number of victims could increase.
Balochistan Interim Information Minister Jan Achakzai said rescue teams have been sent to Mastung. He added that the seriously injured persons are being shifted to Quetta and a state of emergency has been declared in all hospitals.
“The enemy wants to destroy religious tolerance and peace in Balochistan…,” Achakzai said. “The explosion is unbearable.” Prime Minister Ali Mardan Domki has ordered authorities to arrest those responsible for the blast.
“The perpetrators of the destruction do not deserve any leniency,” he said. “Those who focus on peaceful processions will be dealt with strongly.” Prime Minister (CM) Domki urged the people to unite against terrorism, adding that Islam is a religion of peace and “those who commit such heinous acts cannot be called Muslims”.
The caretaker CM also announced three days of mourning across the province over the tragic incident.
Interim Interior Minister Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti also strongly condemned the blast.
Bugti stated that “terrorists have no faith or religion” and claimed that all resources were deployed during the rescue operation. He added that no effort would be spared in treating the injured and that terrorist elements did not deserve any concession.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that carrying out such a despicable act on an occasion marking the birth of the Holy Prophet is odious now and in the hereafter.
He condemned the attack and expressed his condolences to the families of the deceased and injured.
Soon after the blast in Balochistan, the Punjab Police also said its officers were carrying out security duties for Friday prayers at mosques across the province.
Meanwhile, Karachi Police said Additional Inspector General Khadim Husain Rind has instructed police to “remain on full alert” in view of the Mastung explosion.
He directed the police officers to tighten security arrangements regarding Eid-i-Miladun Nabi processions and Friday prayers in the city, and to keep an eye on any unusual activities.
This is the second major blast to terrorize Mastung in the past 15 days, Geo News reported.
Earlier this month, at least eleven people were injured in an explosion in the same neighborhood.
Mastung has remained the target of terror attacks in recent years, with a major attack in July 2018 one of the deadliest in the district’s history, killing at least 128 people. an umbrella group of several terrorist groups called off a ceasefire with the federal government in 2007 and ordered its terrorists to carry out terrorist attacks across the country.
The group, believed to have close ties to al-Qaeda, is blamed for several deadly attacks across Pakistan, including an attack on army headquarters in 2009, attacks on military bases and the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.
In January, a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque full of worshipers during afternoon prayers in the restive city of Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan, killing more than a hundred people.
Last year, a similar attack on a Shiite mosque in the city’s Kocha Risaldar area killed 63 people.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
