KARACHI, (AA): At least 22 people were killed and dozens of other people were injured in a suspected suicide blast at a Shia procession in southern Pakistan’s Sindh province Friday evening, police said. The Muslims were commemmorating martyrdom of grandson of Prophet Muhammad, Imam Husayn, who was killed with his family and companions by Caliph Yazid’s army, in Karbala, Iraq. This follows a similar tragic incident in the Bolan district of Balochistan a day earlier

According to Pakistani police, around 300 people, including women and children were participating in the procession in Lashari Muhalla in the southern district of Jacobabad, when a suspected suicide bomber blew himself up.

Television footage from the area showed human remains and blood-soaked clothes strewn across the road and sidewalks.

Khuda Bux, a city police chief, said that preliminary reports suggest that children were among the dead.

Although emergency was declared in hospitals, there were reports that doctors and paramedical staff were not available there because because of which some seriously injured people succumbed to their injuries. The situation led to a protest and ransacking of one of the hospitals by angry activists of different Shia organisations.

Jacobabad SSP (Senior Superintendent Of Police) Malik Zafar Iqbal Awan arrived there to talk to Shia leaders. The protesters pelted his car with stones and blocked his way.

Denouncing the terrorist attack, the Shia Ulema Council announced protests to be held in Karachi and other cities and towns of Sindh on Saturday.

This was the third suspected terrorist attack in less than a week in Pakistan. Ten people were killed in a suspected suicide attack in southwestern Balochistan province at a Shia mosque on Thursday, while 11 people were killed in a blast targeting a passenger bus in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, earlier this week.

On Jan 30, an explosion at a Shia mosque in Shikarpur killed 61 people and injured over 60 others. Jundullah, a splinter group of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, had claimed responsibility for the attack.

Meanwhile, demonstrations were held in various towns of Badin district on Friday evening in protest against the Jacobabad bombing, according to Dawn newspaper.

Pakistan, a Sunni-majority country, has a long history of sectarian violence as thousands of Shias and Sunnis have been killed in suicide bombings, blasts, and assassinations in the last three decades. Shias make up 10 percent of the total 180 million population.