CHAMAN: A bomb blast on Friday at a pro-Palestinian rally killed at least seven people and injured 14 in Balochistan’s Chaman city, officials said, the latest violence to hit the area.
Senior local police official Ahmad Mohiuddin said explosives were packed into a motorbike parked near the vehicle of a religious leader taking part in the rally. Pictures from the scene showed broken glass, rubble, and bloodstains. “It was an improvised explosive device which went off as participants began to disperse,” added Tariq Mengal, a senior local administration official.
No group has claimed responsibility.
Thousands of people rallied across Pakistan on Friday in support of Palestinians, hours after a ceasefire was announced between Israel and Hamas which governs the Gaza Strip. The rallies followed Friday prayers which usually draw huge crowds to mosques.
Demonstrators could be seen waving signs that said “Free Palestine”, while a major road connecting the capital Islamabad to the neighbouring city Rawalpindi was blocked. Friday’s Chaman blast comes just weeks after a suicide bombing in Quetta at a luxury hotel where the Chinese ambassador was being hosted.
Balochistan government spokesman Liaquat Shahwani said JUI leaders Abdul Qadir Luni and Qari Mehrullah were unharmed in the explosion. The area has been sealed and an emergency has been imposed in local hospitals to treat the injured.
Shahwani strongly condemned the attack, saying terrorists wanted to “destroy Balochistan’s peace”.
“The enemies of solidarity with the oppressed Palestinians are on the side of Israeli aggression,” he added.
Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani also condemned the attack and regretted the loss of lives. “Terrorist elements do not deserve any leniency. No one will be allowed to disturb the law and order of the province,” he said.
The chief minister expressed condolences with the families of those killed and directed authorities to provide the best available medical facilities to the injured. The incident comes a month after a powerful bomb exploded in the parking lot of the Serena Hotel in Quetta, killing at least five people and wounding 12 others.
There has been an uptick in violence in Balochistan, with several incidents of terrorism being reported last year. On April 13, at least 12 people were injured in an explosion during a football tournament being held at a ground in Allahbad Town located in Balochistan’s industrial town of Hub. On October 16, seven soldiers of Frontier Corps (FC) Balochistan and seven security guards were martyred in an ‘encounter’ with a “large number of terrorists”.
