Karachi, April 12
At least 21 persons were killed and 50 others injured in a suicide bombing at a crowded market in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province on Friday, in an attack believed to be targeting the Shiite Hazara ethnic minority community. Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the attack and ordered an inquiry. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The explosion around 7.35 am took place in the busy wholesale market area of Hazarganj in Quetta where Hazaras and other traders come daily to buy fruits and vegetables to later sell at their shops in other parts of the city.
Deputy Inspector General Abdul Razzaq Cheema said the blast, which occurred when the vegetable and fruit sacks were being loaded onto trucks by the traders, targeted the Hazara ethnic community. However, Home Minister Ziaullah Langove, in a press conference, said the blast was not targeting “a specific community”.
An Edhi welfare trust rescue official at the scene of the blast said he had counted around 21 bodies being taken to hospitals. At least eight of those killed in the bomb blast are from the Hazara community, Cheema said. The security forces fear the death toll may rise, GEO News reported.
Cheema said security has been provided to shopkeepers and traders at the market. He said around 70 traders had come to the market in different vehicles and were escorted by the FC and Police. — PTI
Ethnic minorities on militants’ target
- Shiite Hazaras, who were targeted on Friday, make up a significant minority group in Pakistan. Nearly half-a-million Hazaras have settled in Balochistan. This is not the first time that the Hazara community has been targeted by militants
- The NCHR last year said 509 members of the Hazara community were killed in incidents of terrorism in Quetta from January 2012 to December 2017
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2v3La1y
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