At least 52 people have died after a powerful bomb was detonated at a religious rally celebrating the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad in Pakistan.
Police said the suspected suicide blast took place near a mosque in Mastung, a district in Balochistan, and amid warnings of a heightened threat of terror attacks during festivals celebrating the birthday of Islam’s prophet.
A senior police officer was among the dead, government administrator Atta Ullah told the Associated Press, identifying him as deputy superintendent of police Mohammad Nawaz.
More than 50 others were wounded in the attack.
Health officials gave the updated death toll as a senior police officer said a suicide bomber deliberately “detonated himself near the vehicle of the deputy superintendent of police”.
The blast is the second attack in Mastung this month, with an earlier explosion on 14 September targeting a rally of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl political party. Several senior party members were wounded in that blast.
In a separate incident, a blast ripped through a mosque located on the premises of a police station in Hangu, a district in the northwester Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, wounding seven people, said Shah Raz Khan, a local police officer.
He said the mud-brick mosque collapsed because of the impact of the blast and rescuers were removing the debris to pull out worshippers from the rubble. Police say it was not immediately clear what caused the blast.
No one claimed responsibility, and it was unclear what caused the blast when around 40 people were praying at the mosque.
Friday’s bombing came despite authorities ordering security forces to be on heigh alert for the festival of Mawlid an-Nabi, when Muslims around the world celebrate the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday.
The festival traditionally involves large public gatherings where free food is distributed to the public.
Pakistan’s caretaker interior minister said it was a “heinous act” to target people during a Mawlid an-Nabi procession. Sarfraz Bugti denounced the bombing and expressed sorrow and grief over the loss of lives.
Volunteers carry a blast victim on a stretcher at a hospital in Quetta
(AFP via Getty Images)
Pakistan’s president Arif Alvi condemned the attack and asked authorities to provide all possible assistance to the wounded and the victims’ families.
The government had declared a national holiday for the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad, and President Alvi and caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul-haq-Kakar in separate messages had called for unity and for people to adhere to the teachings of Islam’s prophet.
The Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella group of various hardline Sunni Islamist groups, denied it had carried out the attack.
Police escort victims of the blast as they are moved at a hospital in Quetta
(EPA)
Isis in Pakistan has previously claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in Balochistan and elsewhere.
In July, more than 40 people were killed in a suicide bombing in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province at another religious political party’s gathering.
Additional reporting by agencies