38 killed in three bomb blasts on last Friday of Ramadan
quetta/peshawar — At least 38 people were killed and over 100 injured in bomb blasts in Quetta and Parachinar as the faithful observed last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan
In the first attack, a suicide car bomber killed 13 people, including four police officers, near a checkpoint in Quetta on Friday, officials said.
Abdul Razzaq Cheema, inspector general of police in Balochistan province, said it appeared the bomber had detonated a car packed with explosives.
“The death toll has climbed to 13,” Fareed Ahmed, medical superintendent at Civil Hospital said, with around 20 injured, most by shrapnel.
Cheema said nine policemen were among the dead.
At the hospital, worried children stood by the bloodstained cots of wounded relatives, and soldiers visited injured colleagues.
Stunned survivors could give few details about the attack. “I was sitting on a chair. There was an explosion. I got injured and fell down,” said one victim, Gulzar Ahmad.
Police said that their vehicle was targeted in the attack, but that the nature of the explosion was not yet known.
“The blast targeted a police pickup in front of the IG (Inspector General) office. A motorcycle was also destroyed in the explosion,” Mohammed Tariq, a senior police official said. Jamaat ur Ahrar, a splinter group of the outlawed Pakistani Taleban, claimed responsibility for the attack in a message sent to Reuters by spokesman Asad Mansur. Balochistan government spokesman Anwarul Haq Kakar said the blast happened near the office of the inspector general of police when officers stopped the car to search it near a checkpoint.
“It’s possible the IG office was the target, or the assailants were trying to enter the (army) cantonment which is near by,” he said.
Television footage showed emergency services rushing to the scene, which was covered in debris, while security officials cordoned off the area.
In the second attack, 25 people were killed and more than 100 wounded when twin blasts tore through a market crowded with shoppers preparing for the Eid holidays in the tribal area.
The first blast came during rush hour in the market in Parachinar, capital of Kurram tribal district, local official Nasrullah Khan said.
“When people rushed to the site... to rescue the wounded, a second blast took place,” he said. A second official confirmed the explosions and toll. — Reuters, AFP