- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
The explosion took place when people were gathering to mark Eid Miladun Nabi, the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad.
By: Shubham Ghosh
PAKISTAN was witness to yet another horrific suicide blast on Friday (29) when at least 52 people were killed and more than 50 injured near Madina Mosque in the Mastung district of the country’s restive south-western Balochistan province. The deceased included Mastung’s deputy superintendent of police Nawaz Gashkori, who was on duty for the event.
According to authorities, the attack took place when people gathered at the mosque on Al Falah Road to celebrate the birthday of Prophet Muhammad. The mosque appeared to have collapsed as a result of the blast, leaving several buried under the rubble.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The explosion took place when people were gathering to mark Eid Miladun Nabi, the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad.
City station house officer Mohammad Javed Lehri said the explosion was a “suicide blast” and that the bomber exploded himself next to Gashkori’s car.
Lehri said that the wounded are being shifted to a medical facility while an emergency has been imposed in the hospitals. At least 52 people were killed and over 50 injured in the blast, district health officer Mastung Rashid Muhammad Saeed said.
Some of the injured were in critical condition.
Balochistan interim information minister Jan Achakzai said rescue teams have been dispatched to Mastung.
He added that critically injured persons were being transferred to Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, and that an emergency had been imposed in all the hospitals.
“The enemy wants to destroy religious tolerance and peace in Balochistan…,” Achakzai said.
“The explosion is unbearable.”
Balochistan’s caretaker chief minister Ali Mardan Domki has directed authorities to arrest those responsible for the blast.
“The perpetrators of the destruction do not deserve any leniency,” he said.
“Those who target peaceful processions will be dealt with firmly.”
Domki urged the people to unite against terrorism, adding that Islam was a religion of peace and “those who commit such heinous acts cannot be called Muslims”.
The caretaker CM also announced three days of mourning throughout the province over the tragic incident.
Pakistan’s interim interior minister Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti also strongly condemned the blast.
Stating that “terrorists have no faith or religion”, Bugti asserted that all resources were being put to use during the rescue operation. He added that no effort would be spared in treating the injured and that terrorist elements did not deserve any concession.
The police in other provinces such as Punjab and Sindh were on high alert following the attack in Balochistan.
This is the second major blast that has terrorised Mastung over the last 15 days, Geo News reported. Earlier this month, at least 11 people were injured in a blast in the same district. 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 at least 128 people were killed.
(With PTI inputs)
