At least 50 people have been killed with dozens more injured after a suicide bomb blast at targeted people who gathered to celebrate the birthday of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed, in Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
A second suicide attack by two men at a mosque hundreds of kilometers north in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province led to a roof collapse that killed four people.
Following the blast, officials in Balochistan have declared a state of emergency. As at the time of reporting, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Balochistan’s police chief Abdul Khaliq Sheikh confirmed the explosion was a suicide blast. He said a senior police officer was killed while trying to stop the attacker.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said the blast was a “very heinous act” and condemned what he called “the terrorist attacks” in both areas.
While the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday is accepted by the majority of Islamic sects in Pakistan, certain denominations view it as an abomination. On the same occasion in April 2006, a suicide bomber killed at least 50 people in the port city of Karachi after detonating a device at a gathering of Sunni Muslims.
