20 killed, over 70 injured in blast in Pakistan’s Balochistan
Islamabad, Sep 29 : A powerful explosion hit a religious gathering in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Friday, killing at least 20 people while injuring over 70 others, police and rescue officials said.
A senior police official responsible for providing security to the procession was among the killed in the blast, which occurred near a mosque in the Kora Khan area of the Mastung district, said Mastung Assistant Commissioner Atta-ul-Muneem Baloch.
Preliminary reports and police investigation suggested it was a suicide attack, the official said, adding that relevant authorities are probing the matter and collecting forensic evidence to determine the exact nature of the explosion.
Security forces and rescue teams rushed to the site and shifted the injured to nearby hospitals in the district. A state of emergency has also been imposed in all the hospitals in the district.
Several people among the injured are in critical condition and are being transferred to the neighboring provincial capital Quetta for better medical treatment, according to the hospital sources.
Talking to Xinhua, Hamza Khan, a resident of Mastung district, said that he, along with his male family members, was attending the procession to celebrate Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, when he heard a loud bang.
“It was so massive that for a moment, I could not believe my eyes… People were screaming for help, and there was blood everywhere,” Khan said, adding that two of his cousins were among the victims.
No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.
Taking notice of the incident, caretaker Interior Minister Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti condemned the blast, saying the state has a zero-tolerance policy towards terrorists.
