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At least 93 killed in Quetta explosions
QUETTA: As many as 93 people were killed and more than 121 injured in suicide and car bomb blasts in Quetta's Alamdar Road area on Thursday night.
Earlier in the afternoon, 12 people lost their lives when a bomb went off near a vehicle of the Frontier Corps at Bacha Khan Chowk.
A cameraman and a reporter of a private news channel, a computer operator of a news agency and nine police personnel, including two senior police officers, were among the dead, while 10 army and FC personnel were injured in the blasts.
A majority of the people killed in the Alamdar Road blasts belonged to the Hazara Shia community.
The banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for the blasts.
The death toll might go up because the condition of several injured people was serious, said Hamid Shakeel, Deputy Inspector General of Police.
Police sources said that the first blast took place in a snooker club on Alamdar Road when people were busy playing the game. Several people were killed or injured in the blast. "A man entered the snooker club and a powerful blast took place," they said, adding that it appeared to be a suicide attack.
Police, workers of Edhi Trust and media teams rushed to the place soon after the first blast and started taking the injured to hospital.
A second blast took place 10 minutes after the first blast outside the snooker club when a large number of people, police and rescue workers gathered there. A majority of people were killed and injured in the second blast.
Five police personnel, including a senior police officer, and three media men also lost their lives in the second blast. Reporter Saifullah Baloch and cameraman Imran Shaikh belonged to Samaa TV, while computer operator Mohammad Iqbal worked for NNI.
Some other media men, who reached the site to cover the first blast, were also injured in the second explosion.
Imran Shaikh was the third Samaa cameraman to have lost his life in the line of duty. Earlier, Ejaz Ahmed Raisani and Malik Arif had been killed in bomb blasts.
Police said that an explosive-laden car parked at the roadside was used in the second explosion. Both the blasts shook the entire provincial capital.
"The building which housed the snooker club was destroyed completely, while over 50 shops and nearby houses were badly damaged," eyewitness Khalil Ahmed said.
Two rescue workers were also killed in the blast, he added.
Soon after the second blast, power supply was disrupted in the area as wires snapped. "Bodies littered a large area," another eyewitness Banaras Khan told Dawn, adding that several media men were missing. A DSNG of Geo TV was damaged in the second explosion. A cameraman received injuries while other staffers remained unhurt.
Rescue workers and security personnel faced difficulty in collecting bodies and in shifting the injured to hospital.
An emergency was declared at Civil Hospital and the Combined Military Hospital. Most of the injured and bodies were brought to CMH. The condition of at least 10 of the injured was stated to be critical.
"The death toll might increase," hospital officials expressed fears.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Lashkar-i-Jhangvi told media from an unknown place that his organisation had carried out the two explosions.
Capital City Police Officer Zubair Mehmood confirmed at a press conference the killing of 81 people and injuring of 121 in the two blasts.
"A doomsday scenario was at the blast site. Bodies were lying everywhere."
Mr Mehmood said that nine police officials had lost their lives.
Earlier in the afternoon, at least 12 people, including an FC soldier and a child, were killed and over 60 injured in a bomb blast before the night-time carnage shook the city.
The bomb was planted close to a parked vehicle of Frontier Corps at the crowded Bacha Khan Chowk. The blast rocked the entire area. Several other FC men were injured in the blast, Balochistan Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani told Dawn, adding that the condition of at least five people was serious.
Among the injured were two women and three children.
Frontier Corps officials confirmed that one soldier had been killed and 10 other soldiers were injured in the blast. "We have lost one soldier in the blast and another is in critical condition," a spokesman said.
An Afghan national, who hailed from Spin-Boldak, a border district of Afghanistan, was also killed in the blast.
The banned United Baloch Army has claimed responsibility for the blast. Its spokesman Mureed Baloch told newsmen that the blast was in revenge for Mashkay, Awaran and Bolan operations launched by FC.
The area where the blast took place is a populated and busy commercial junction where thousands of people come for shopping and doing business in Baldia Plaza.
"Thousands of people were busy shopping and in doing business in Baldia Plaza and in the Bacha Khan Chowk when the blast took place," said eyewitness Mehmood Khan, who owns a shop in the area.
Police sources said that the bomb planted with a time device in a bag close to the FC vehicle went off at 3.10 pm, killing at least 10 people on the spot and injuring over 60.
Police and FC personnel cordoned off the place and took the bodies and the injured to Civil Hospital, where an emergency had been declared.
Two injured, including the FC soldier, died in hospital as they had received multiple wounds.
"The target of the bomb blast was the vehicle carrying FC men and a checkpost in the area," said Capital City Police Officer Zubair Mehmood.
He told reporters that it was a time device. "We have collected evidence from the site and investigation is in progress," he said.
Bomb disposal squad personnel said that 20 to 25 kg of explosives had been used in the blast.
Hospital sources said that 11 bodies and over 40 injured were brought to the Civil Hospital. Some of the injured had been shifted to CMH, Quetta. "We are trying to save lives of seriously injured people," hospital officials said.
Most of the people killed in the blast were vendors and shopkeepers selling old clothes, rings, soup and other edible items outside Baldia Plaza.
Two Naib Tehsildars, who came from the Taunsa town of Rajanpur district in Punjab, were also killed.
Eight of the 12 dead were identified as Naib Tehsildars Ghulam Sarwar Qaisrani and Inayatullah, Mazuddin, Ziaul Haq, Fazal Ahmed, Sher Ali, Akhtar Mohammad and Tamour Shah.A man selling fruits on a pushcart had reportedly seen a white bag near the FC vehicle and informed the paramilitary force's personnel before the bomb exploded. However, he remained safe, sources said.
The FC vehicle and about a dozen other cars and motorcycles were destroyed in the blast. About two dozen shops were damaged while windowpanes of several buildings and offices in Baldia plaza were smashed.
At least 93 lives lost in Quetta explosions | Pakistan | DAWN.COM
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Blast leaves 22 dead, 70 injured in Swat Tableeghi Centre
MINGORA: At least 22 people were killed and over 70 injured in a blast at a Tableeghi centre in the once militants' infested district of Swat on Thursday.
The cause of the blast in the basement of the centre on Takhtaband Road, some 5km southwest of Swat's regional headquarters of Mingora, was not known, a senior official said.
"The cause of the blast is yet to be determined," Deputy Commissioner Kamran Rehman told Dawn on phone from Saidu Sharif. "We are investigating the incident," he said.
"It is very cold here and, therefore, there were a large number of people in the basement," he said.
Hundreds of people turn up for special Thursday night prayers at the Tableeghi markaz.
Security personnel and police cordoned off the area and carried out rescue work. The bodies and the injured were taken to the district headquarters hospital in Saidu Sharif.
The powerful blast shattered windows and doors of the centre's hall.
A senior doctor said the dead and wounded had signs of having been hit by explosives. "The bodies and the wounded bore signs of having been hit by a bomb. There was a smell of explosives."
Some bodies and the wounded had cuts caused by shrapnel and ball-bearings used in explosive devices, Casualty Medical Officer Dr Mohammad Iqbal told Dawn on phone.
According to Dr Jamil, in charge of casualty ward, 21 bodies were lying in the hospital's morgue while the number of injured was around 70.
District Police Officer Gul Afzal Afridi said the explosion had caused a small crater. "Police and army officials are investigating," he said. "There are signs and indications that an explosive device has been used. There are marks of shrapnel and pallets there," Mr Afridi said.
DIG Akhtar Hayat said the blast was an act of subversion. Bomb disposal squad personnel are investigating to determine the cause of the blast.
Ibne Ameen, an eyewitness, told this reporter that the blast had taken place when the khateeb asked people to prepare for Maghrib prayers. "As people stood up to go for ablution a huge explosion took place. The people started running here and there. There was sort of a stampede."
He said over 1,000 local members of the jamat were present at the centre when the blast took place.
Swat, a tourist paradise of green valleys, snow-covered mountains and gushing blue waters, remained under control of militants till the army launched an operation in April 2009 and took control of the district.
Militant leader of the Swati Taliban, Maulana Fazlullah, left Swat and is now believed to be hiding in Afghanistan's eastern Nooristan province.
Intelligence officials say Maulana Fazlullah and his fighters continue to try to sneak back into their former stronghold.
22 die in Swat Tableeghi centre blast | Pakistan | DAWN.COM
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11 killed in one hour of violence in Karachi
KARACHI: At least eleven people were killed in separate incidents of violence within an hour in Karachi on Thursday night, DawnNews reported.
Seven people were killed near Dr Nadir Homeopathic Hospital at Karachi-Hyderabad Superhighway when unidentified gunmen opened fire on labourers while they were asleep.
The incident spread fear among residents of the area as shops were reportedly shut.
police and rangers reached the site and cordoned off the area.
Meanwhile, a man was gunned down in Gulbahar locality while another was killed near Singer Roundabout in Korangi.
Moreover, two robbers were gunned down by police in a fire exchange near Sir Syed University in Gulshan-i-Iqbal neighbourhood.
Karachi violence: At least eleven killed in one hour | Pakistan | DAWN.COM
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This should serve as a telling reminder to our Pakistani friends that terror has no borders.
QUETTA: As many as 93 people were killed and more than 121 injured in suicide and car bomb blasts in Quetta's Alamdar Road area on Thursday night.
Earlier in the afternoon, 12 people lost their lives when a bomb went off near a vehicle of the Frontier Corps at Bacha Khan Chowk.
A cameraman and a reporter of a private news channel, a computer operator of a news agency and nine police personnel, including two senior police officers, were among the dead, while 10 army and FC personnel were injured in the blasts.
A majority of the people killed in the Alamdar Road blasts belonged to the Hazara Shia community.
The banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for the blasts.
The death toll might go up because the condition of several injured people was serious, said Hamid Shakeel, Deputy Inspector General of Police.
Police sources said that the first blast took place in a snooker club on Alamdar Road when people were busy playing the game. Several people were killed or injured in the blast. "A man entered the snooker club and a powerful blast took place," they said, adding that it appeared to be a suicide attack.
Police, workers of Edhi Trust and media teams rushed to the place soon after the first blast and started taking the injured to hospital.
A second blast took place 10 minutes after the first blast outside the snooker club when a large number of people, police and rescue workers gathered there. A majority of people were killed and injured in the second blast.
Five police personnel, including a senior police officer, and three media men also lost their lives in the second blast. Reporter Saifullah Baloch and cameraman Imran Shaikh belonged to Samaa TV, while computer operator Mohammad Iqbal worked for NNI.
Some other media men, who reached the site to cover the first blast, were also injured in the second explosion.
Imran Shaikh was the third Samaa cameraman to have lost his life in the line of duty. Earlier, Ejaz Ahmed Raisani and Malik Arif had been killed in bomb blasts.
Police said that an explosive-laden car parked at the roadside was used in the second explosion. Both the blasts shook the entire provincial capital.
"The building which housed the snooker club was destroyed completely, while over 50 shops and nearby houses were badly damaged," eyewitness Khalil Ahmed said.
Two rescue workers were also killed in the blast, he added.
Soon after the second blast, power supply was disrupted in the area as wires snapped. "Bodies littered a large area," another eyewitness Banaras Khan told Dawn, adding that several media men were missing. A DSNG of Geo TV was damaged in the second explosion. A cameraman received injuries while other staffers remained unhurt.
Rescue workers and security personnel faced difficulty in collecting bodies and in shifting the injured to hospital.
An emergency was declared at Civil Hospital and the Combined Military Hospital. Most of the injured and bodies were brought to CMH. The condition of at least 10 of the injured was stated to be critical.
"The death toll might increase," hospital officials expressed fears.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Lashkar-i-Jhangvi told media from an unknown place that his organisation had carried out the two explosions.
Capital City Police Officer Zubair Mehmood confirmed at a press conference the killing of 81 people and injuring of 121 in the two blasts.
"A doomsday scenario was at the blast site. Bodies were lying everywhere."
Mr Mehmood said that nine police officials had lost their lives.
Earlier in the afternoon, at least 12 people, including an FC soldier and a child, were killed and over 60 injured in a bomb blast before the night-time carnage shook the city.
The bomb was planted close to a parked vehicle of Frontier Corps at the crowded Bacha Khan Chowk. The blast rocked the entire area. Several other FC men were injured in the blast, Balochistan Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani told Dawn, adding that the condition of at least five people was serious.
Among the injured were two women and three children.
Frontier Corps officials confirmed that one soldier had been killed and 10 other soldiers were injured in the blast. "We have lost one soldier in the blast and another is in critical condition," a spokesman said.
An Afghan national, who hailed from Spin-Boldak, a border district of Afghanistan, was also killed in the blast.
The banned United Baloch Army has claimed responsibility for the blast. Its spokesman Mureed Baloch told newsmen that the blast was in revenge for Mashkay, Awaran and Bolan operations launched by FC.
The area where the blast took place is a populated and busy commercial junction where thousands of people come for shopping and doing business in Baldia Plaza.
"Thousands of people were busy shopping and in doing business in Baldia Plaza and in the Bacha Khan Chowk when the blast took place," said eyewitness Mehmood Khan, who owns a shop in the area.
Police sources said that the bomb planted with a time device in a bag close to the FC vehicle went off at 3.10 pm, killing at least 10 people on the spot and injuring over 60.
Police and FC personnel cordoned off the place and took the bodies and the injured to Civil Hospital, where an emergency had been declared.
Two injured, including the FC soldier, died in hospital as they had received multiple wounds.
"The target of the bomb blast was the vehicle carrying FC men and a checkpost in the area," said Capital City Police Officer Zubair Mehmood.
He told reporters that it was a time device. "We have collected evidence from the site and investigation is in progress," he said.
Bomb disposal squad personnel said that 20 to 25 kg of explosives had been used in the blast.
Hospital sources said that 11 bodies and over 40 injured were brought to the Civil Hospital. Some of the injured had been shifted to CMH, Quetta. "We are trying to save lives of seriously injured people," hospital officials said.
Most of the people killed in the blast were vendors and shopkeepers selling old clothes, rings, soup and other edible items outside Baldia Plaza.
Two Naib Tehsildars, who came from the Taunsa town of Rajanpur district in Punjab, were also killed.
Eight of the 12 dead were identified as Naib Tehsildars Ghulam Sarwar Qaisrani and Inayatullah, Mazuddin, Ziaul Haq, Fazal Ahmed, Sher Ali, Akhtar Mohammad and Tamour Shah.A man selling fruits on a pushcart had reportedly seen a white bag near the FC vehicle and informed the paramilitary force's personnel before the bomb exploded. However, he remained safe, sources said.
The FC vehicle and about a dozen other cars and motorcycles were destroyed in the blast. About two dozen shops were damaged while windowpanes of several buildings and offices in Baldia plaza were smashed.
At least 93 lives lost in Quetta explosions | Pakistan | DAWN.COM
- -
Blast leaves 22 dead, 70 injured in Swat Tableeghi Centre
MINGORA: At least 22 people were killed and over 70 injured in a blast at a Tableeghi centre in the once militants' infested district of Swat on Thursday.
The cause of the blast in the basement of the centre on Takhtaband Road, some 5km southwest of Swat's regional headquarters of Mingora, was not known, a senior official said.
"The cause of the blast is yet to be determined," Deputy Commissioner Kamran Rehman told Dawn on phone from Saidu Sharif. "We are investigating the incident," he said.
"It is very cold here and, therefore, there were a large number of people in the basement," he said.
Hundreds of people turn up for special Thursday night prayers at the Tableeghi markaz.
Security personnel and police cordoned off the area and carried out rescue work. The bodies and the injured were taken to the district headquarters hospital in Saidu Sharif.
The powerful blast shattered windows and doors of the centre's hall.
A senior doctor said the dead and wounded had signs of having been hit by explosives. "The bodies and the wounded bore signs of having been hit by a bomb. There was a smell of explosives."
Some bodies and the wounded had cuts caused by shrapnel and ball-bearings used in explosive devices, Casualty Medical Officer Dr Mohammad Iqbal told Dawn on phone.
According to Dr Jamil, in charge of casualty ward, 21 bodies were lying in the hospital's morgue while the number of injured was around 70.
District Police Officer Gul Afzal Afridi said the explosion had caused a small crater. "Police and army officials are investigating," he said. "There are signs and indications that an explosive device has been used. There are marks of shrapnel and pallets there," Mr Afridi said.
DIG Akhtar Hayat said the blast was an act of subversion. Bomb disposal squad personnel are investigating to determine the cause of the blast.
Ibne Ameen, an eyewitness, told this reporter that the blast had taken place when the khateeb asked people to prepare for Maghrib prayers. "As people stood up to go for ablution a huge explosion took place. The people started running here and there. There was sort of a stampede."
He said over 1,000 local members of the jamat were present at the centre when the blast took place.
Swat, a tourist paradise of green valleys, snow-covered mountains and gushing blue waters, remained under control of militants till the army launched an operation in April 2009 and took control of the district.
Militant leader of the Swati Taliban, Maulana Fazlullah, left Swat and is now believed to be hiding in Afghanistan's eastern Nooristan province.
Intelligence officials say Maulana Fazlullah and his fighters continue to try to sneak back into their former stronghold.
22 die in Swat Tableeghi centre blast | Pakistan | DAWN.COM
- - -
11 killed in one hour of violence in Karachi
KARACHI: At least eleven people were killed in separate incidents of violence within an hour in Karachi on Thursday night, DawnNews reported.
Seven people were killed near Dr Nadir Homeopathic Hospital at Karachi-Hyderabad Superhighway when unidentified gunmen opened fire on labourers while they were asleep.
The incident spread fear among residents of the area as shops were reportedly shut.
police and rangers reached the site and cordoned off the area.
Meanwhile, a man was gunned down in Gulbahar locality while another was killed near Singer Roundabout in Korangi.
Moreover, two robbers were gunned down by police in a fire exchange near Sir Syed University in Gulshan-i-Iqbal neighbourhood.
Karachi violence: At least eleven killed in one hour | Pakistan | DAWN.COM
- - -
This should serve as a telling reminder to our Pakistani friends that terror has no borders.
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:scared:
Hit the nail on its head! Don't poke Uncle Sam, he's not so kind to people who expose his double standards.
