16 killed as suicide bomber blows himself up in Balochistan shrine
quetta — A suicide bomber struck a shrine packed with devotees in a remote village in Balochistan on Thursday, killing 16 people and wounding 30 in an apparent sectarian attack, a provincial government spokesman and the police said.
The attacker detonated his explosives vest when he was stopped for a routine search by a police officer guarding the shrine in the village of Jhal Magsi, about 400km from Quetta, the capital of the province.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Anwarul Haq Kakar, spokesman for the provincial government, said the death toll could rise as some of the wounded were in critical condition.
Mohammed Iqbal, a district police chief, said five children, a woman and one police officer
terrorists have no religion and the government will act against militants with full might Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, prime minister
were among those killed in the bombing.
Hundreds of devotees were present at the shrine for a monthly gathering when the bomber hit. Local TV footage showed people crying for help in the immediate aftermath of the attack.
Just hours earlier, Pakistani army spokesman Maj-Gen. Asif Ghafoor said the military had received credible reports of upcoming terror attacks. Ghafoor told a news conference in the garrison city of Rawalpindi that the government has been alerted about possible attacks. Though no one claimed responsibility for Thursday’s bombing, militants have carried out many such attacks in the past in Balochistan and elsewhere in the country.
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi condemned the attack.
In a statement, he said that “terrorists have no religion” and that his government will act against militants with full might.
In June, at least 75 people were killed in twin bombings at a market in Parachinar in the country’s northwest. At the time, Lashkare-Jhangvi, a sectarian extremist group, claimed the bombings in Parachinar.
In February, a Daesh suicide bomber struck inside a famed Sufi shrine in Sindh, killing 88 worshippers as they performed a devotional dance known as “dhamal.” —