43 die in Pakistan suicide attack
The target of the attack was the area where believers would perform dhamaal'.
Karachi: At least 43 people, including women and children, were killed and more than 100 others injured today in a suicide attack carried out by a 14-year-old boy at a popular sufi shrine in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province.
The blast occurred in the remote Hub region in Khuzdar district of the province while devotees were participating in a Sufi dance called “dhamaal” at Dargah Shah Noorani.
“Forty-three people have died and dozens injured in the incident,” Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti said. “People who are critically injured in the blast will be transported to Karachi,” Bugti was quoted as saying by DawnNews.
The target of the attack was the area where believers would perform ‘dhamaal’. The blast site is situated some 250km away from Karachi.
The blast happened when about 500 to 600 devotees were present at shrine.
The Express Tribune quoted police sources as saying that the blast was a suicide attack carried out by a 14-year-old boy. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Rescue teams reached the blast site and started shifting the deceased and injured to the hospital. Rescuers were facing difficulty in accessing the site as the shrine is located in a remote area.
President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the bomb blast. They directed the concerned authorities to speed up the rescue activities.