QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri alleged that the Indian intelligence agency RAW was behind terrorist attacks in Balochistan on Monday.
The statement came after a deadly bomb blast rocked Quetta in which at least 53 people were killed and at least 50 more were injured. CM Zehri claimed that as per the initial reports obtained after the incident, it appeared to be a suicide bomb blast.
He also said that the Indian intelligence agency RAW was involved in subversive and terrorist activities in Balochistan. “A war has been waged against terrorists in the province,” he said. “Militants have now started targeting those who are easy objects,” he added. He also announced a three-day mourning period in Balochistan over the deadly attack on the hospital.
Reuters news service quoted the provincial home minister Sarfaraz Bugti as saying that at least 50 people were killed, and more than that number were wounded, as the casualty toll spiked from initial estimates.
The bomber struck as more than 100 mourners, mostly lawyers and journalists, crowded into the emergency department to accompany the body of a prominent lawyer, who had been shot and killed in the city earlier in the day, Faridullah, a journalist who was among the wounded, told Reuters.
The provincial health minister Rehmat Saleh Baloch said, “There are many wounded, so the death toll could rise.” Private TV channels showed scenes where panicked people fled through debris amidst chaos as smoke filled the hospital corridors.
The motive behind the attack was unclear and no group had yet claimed responsibility, but several lawyers have been targeted during a recent spate of killings in Quetta.
Earlier on Monday morning, Balochistan Bar President Anwar Kasi was also shot dead in Quetta. His body was brought to the Civil Hospital Quetta, due to which a large number of lawyers had gathered at the hospital when the bomb went off. Hence, the majority of those among the dead happen to be lawyers.
The subsequent suicide attack appeared to target his mourners, a spokesman for the Baluchistan government Anwarul Haq Kakar said. He added that it seems that the attack was pre-planned.
Police cordoned off the hospital following the blast. Aside from a long-running separatist insurgency, and sectarian tensions, Baluchistan also suffers from rising crime. Quetta has also long been regarded as a base for the Afghan Taliban, whose leadership has regularly held meetings there in the past.
The police sources revealed that eight kilograms of explosive materials was used in the Civil Hospital bomb blast here that caused the death of more than 50 people and injured as many as 56.
Inspector General (IG) of Police Ahsan Mahboob visited the hospital along with Chief Secretary Saifullah Chatha to inspect the damage that had been inflicted. Speaking to media personnel, IG Ahsan said that the police were still carrying out investigation into the bomb blast attack.
He said, “I will be able to disclosed some information related to the bomb blast in an hour or an hour-and-a-half.” The police also revealed that explosive material was used along with ball bearings in the bomb blast attack.