Dawn: At least 30 people were killed and 70 were injured on Saturday in an explosion at the shrine of Shah Norani in Khuzdar district of Balochistan, DawnNews reported.
The death toll is feared to rise with women and children casulaties in the deadly blast.
The explosion took place at the spot where the dhamaal (Sufi ritual) is performed, within the premises of the shrine.
Security forces have reached the spot of the incident. Emergency services are facing difficulty in reaching the site of the incident due to its remote location and poor communication infrastructure. The shrine is also located in hilly terrain, further adding to the difficulties being faced by emergency services.
No group has yet taken responsibility of the attack.
“People who are critically injured in the blast will be transported to Karachi,” said Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti.
No major hospital is located near the shrine, and the injured will be shifted to Karachi for further treatment. Reportedly the injured are being shifted in private vehicles.
An emergency has also been declared in all hospitals of Khuzdar district.
While answering a question regarding security measures in Balochistan, Bugti said “If there is security lapse on part of the state, those responsible will be held accountable”.
The shrine is frequented by a large number of devotees on Friday, and is visited by people from across the country. Iranian nationals also frequent the shrine.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has expressed his grief over the killing of innocents and condemned the blast at the shrine of Shah Norani.
Expressing grief over the loss of innocent lives, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attack at Dargah Shah Noorani and directed the concerned authorities to bring the perpetrators to the task immediately.
Earlier attacks
In October, heavily-armed militants wearing suicide vests stormed a police academy in Quetta, killing at least 61 people and wounding at least 117.
Three gunmen burst into the sprawling academy, targeting sleeping quarters home to some 700 recruits, and sent terrified young men aged between 15 and 25 fleeing.
Communication intercepts showed the attack was carried out by Al-Alimi faction of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) militant group.
In August, a suicide bomber targeted the emergency services ward at Quetta’s Civil Hospital killing at least 70 people and leaving scores injured, majority of those killed were lawyers.
Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) splinter group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), had claimed responsibility for the bombing which occurred at the gates of the building housing the emergency ward.
Balochistan has been experiencing incidents of violence and targeted killings for over a decade. More than 1,400 incidents targeting the minority Shia and Hazara community have taken place in the province during the past 15 years.
The largest province of the country by area, is home to a low-level insurgency by ethnic Baloch separatists. Al Qaeda-linked and sectarian militants also operate in the region. The province shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran.
[Additional news from Express Tribune]
[Photo of Shrine Noorani in Hub, Balochistan, Pakistan. Photo by News International]
