A suicide bomber on Friday targeted people gearing up for a procession related to Eid Miladun Nabi, near a mosque in the Mastung district….reports Asian Lite News
Seven more people succumbed to their injuries from the suicide blast in Balochistan’s Mastung district, as death toll from the incident rose to 59, Geo News reported on Saturday citing a spokesperson of the Civil Hospital in Quetta.
In a statement, the spokesperson said 52 deaths were recorded in the Nawab Ghous Bakhsh Memorial Hospital, six in the civil hospital, and one in the BMC Complex.
A suicide bomber on Friday targeted people gearing up for a procession related to Eid Miladun Nabi, near a mosque in the Mastung district.
At least 52 people were killed initially, according to district health official Abdul Rasheed, including the children who were aged 9-11, and at least 58 people were injured, Geo News reported.
“My feet trembled and I was thrown to the ground,” said 49-year-old Hazoor Bakhsh.
“As the dust settled, I saw people scattered in all directions, some screaming while others called out for help, Geo News quoted him as saying.
Hours after the blast in Balochistan, a second attack took place at a mosque in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hangu city. That incident has claimed the lives of five people — including a policeman — and injured 12 others, according to Geo News.
The incident took place within the parametres of Police Station Doaba during the Friday sermon.
Earlier in the day, the Pakistan security forces in Balochistan registered the first information report (FIR) regarding the Mastung suicide blast.
According to the ARY News, the preliminary report of the incident has been submitted to the Balochistan caretaker Chief Minister Ali Mardan Khan Domki. The caretaker CM has also chaired a high-level session to review progress on the investigation into the Mastung suicide blast.
In the previous blast on September 14, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) leader Hafiz Hamdullah and several others were injured, Geo News reported.
A week before that, a Levies official was gunned down at a bus stand by unidentified men, while two others who were passing by were injured.
In May, unidentified attackers targeted a polio vaccination team in the Killi Sour Karez area on the outskirts of Mastung, resulting in the killing of a policeman.
In October 2022, three people were killed and six others injured in a bomb attack targeting two vehicles in the mountainous area of Qabu in Mastung.
Mastung has remained a target of terror attacks for the past several years with a major attack in July 2018 being one of the deadliest in the district’s history during which over 200 were injured and at least 128 were killed, including Mir Siraj Khan Raisan — a provincial assembly candidate from the then-newl; y-formed Balochistan Awami Party (BAP). (ANI/IANS)