Pakistan: 55 killed, scores wounded in two blasts on the Prophet’s birth anniversary

Virendra Pandit 

New Delhi: At least 55 people were killed and over 50 wounded, many of them critically, in two powerful blasts that ripped through mosques in Pakistan within hours on Friday, the Prophet’s birth anniversary known as Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi.

According to media reports, a suicide blast occurred near a mosque in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, killing at least 52 people and injuring over 50 others who had gathered to celebrate Prophet Muhammad’s birthday.

Hours later, another blast at a mosque in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hangu city killed at least three people and injured five others.

The blast in Balochistan occurred near Madina Mosque on Al Falah Road in the 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 the deceased.

City Station House Officer (SHO) Mohammad Javed Lehri said the explosion was a “suicide blast” and that the bomber exploded himself next to the DSP’s car.

The bomb attack came a day after the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) killed a key Islamic State (ISIS) commander in the Mastung district.

As some of the injured were in critical condition, officials expressed concern that the number of casualties may increase.

Balochistan Interim Information Minister Jan Achakzai said rescue teams have been dispatched to Mastung, the critically injured persons are being transferred to Quetta, and an emergency has been imposed in all the hospitals.

“The enemy wants to destroy religious tolerance and peace in Balochistan…,” he said.

Caretaker Chief Minister Ali Mardan Domki said “The perpetrators of the destruction do not deserve any leniency. Those who target peaceful processions will be dealt with firmly. They cannot be called Muslims.”

He also announced three days of mourning throughout the province over the tragic incident.

Former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the blasts and condoled the death of people.

Karachi’s Additional Inspector General Khadim Husain Rind also directed the police to remain “completely on high alert” in view of the Mastung blast.

Mastung has emerged as a target of terror attacks in recent years. A major attack in July 2018 claimed at least 128 people’s lives after the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), set up as an umbrella group of several terrorist outfits in 2007, called off a ceasefire with the federal government and ordered its terrorists to stage terrorist attacks across the country.

The group, supported by Afghanistan’s Taliban-ruled government, has been blamed for several deadly attacks across Pakistan.

In January, a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque packed with worshippers during afternoon prayers in Pakistan’s restive northwestern Peshawar city, killing over 100 people.

Last year, a similar attack inside a Shia mosque in the Kocha Risaldar area in the city killed 63 people.