QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) – At least 52 people were killed and 58 injured in a suicide attack on a mosque during a religious gathering in Pakistan’s western Balochistan province on Friday, people said health authorities and police.
A second attack that occurred a few hours later in the neighboring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (northwest) left at least five dead and caused the roof of the targeted mosque to collapse. About 30 to 40 people are trapped under the rubble, local officials said.
These attacks, which take place in a context of an increase in attacks claimed by armed groups in the run-up to the legislative elections scheduled for January 2024, were not immediately claimed.
In Balochistan, “the suicide bomber blew himself up near the deputy superintendent of police’s vehicle,” Deputy Inspector General of Police Munir Ahmed told Reuters, adding that the explosion took place near a mosque where people gathered for a procession to mark the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.
The Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (Pakistan Taliban Movement, TTP), which brings together several extremist Sunni groups, denied being the author of the attack.
The victims are being treated in hospitals in the neighboring town of Mastung.
Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti called the explosion a “heinous act.”
In July, more than 50 people were killed in a suicide attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province during a political rally of the conservative Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party.
(Reporting Saleem Ahmed in Quetta, Ariba Shahid in Karachi; French version Diana Mandiá, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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