Dozens killed in Pakistan blast
2013-02-16 18:09
Quetta - A remote-controlled bomb targeting Shi'ite Muslims
killed at least 47 people including women and children and wounded more than
200 in Pakistan's insurgency-hit southwest on Saturday, police and officials
said.
The bomb exploded in Hazara town, an area dominated by Shi'ites
on the outskirts of Quetta, capital of oil and gas rich Baluchistan province.
"At least 47 people have been killed and at least 200
more wounded. The death toll may rise. It was a remote-controlled bomb,"
Wazir Khan Nasir, senior police officer in Quetta, told AFP.
Sectarian attack
"It was a sectarian attack, the Shi'ite community was
the target," he added.
Azhar Ali Shah, a second police officer, confirmed the death
toll, which had initially been put at 10.
Provincial home secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani told AFP
that the dead included women and children.
"We fear more casualties. We have announced an
emergency in hospitals," he said.
Durrani said the bomb was planted near the pillar of a
building in a bazaar.
"The building collapsed due to the intensity of the
bomb, some people have been trapped inside," he said.
Officials and witnesses said an angry mob surrounded the
area after the blast and were not allowing policemen, rescue workers and
reporters to reach the site.
"They were angry and started a protest, some of them
pelted police with stones," home secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani told AFP.
"Some of them were armed and were firing gunshots in
the air, now they have allowed police and rescue workers to reach on
spot," he added.
An AFP photographer counted 30 dead bodies in only one
hospital.
Baluchistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has
increasingly become a flashpoint for sectarian violence between Pakistan's
majority Sunni Muslims and Shi'ites, who account for around a fifth of the
country's 180 million people.
Previous blast
At least 92 people were killed and 121 wounded on 10 January,
when two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a crowded snooker club in an
area of Quetta city dominated by the Shi'ite community.
It was Pakistan's worst sectarian bombing, claimed by Sunni
Muslim militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf later the same
month sacked the provincial government in Baluchistan after meeting Shi'ite
Muslim protesters demanding protection.
The province is also rife with Islamist militants and a
regional insurgency which began in 2004.
The insurgents demand political autonomy and a greater share
of profits from the region's natural resources.
