Shikarpur, Pakistan (BBN)- More than 50 people were killed and at least 50 others injured in an explosion inside a central imambargah (mosque affiliated with Shia Muslims) in Sindh province’s Shikarpur district of Pakistan on Friday.
The imambargah is located in Shikarpur’s Lakhi Dar area and the explosion occurred just after Friday prayers, reports DwanNews.
Deputy commissioner Hadi Bakhsh Zardari said that at least 50 people were killed in the blast. He added that over 50 were injured in the incident.
Shaukat Memon, Medical Superintendent Civil Hospital Shikarpur, had said earlier over 50 people have been injured in the huge blast that was reportedly heard several kilometers away. Children are also reportedly among the dead and injured.
The bomb disposal squad (BDS) of Sindh Police revealed after an initial probe that around five to seven kilos of explosives was used in the explosion, reports Geo News.
DIG Shikarpur Rakhio Mirani said that a man brought a device inside the Imambargah and used it to detonate an explosion.
Scores of worshipers were present inside for Friday prayers during the time of the blast.
According to ISPR, a team of doctors has been dispatched to Shikarpur from Pano Aqil Garrison.
Police and rescue services were dispatched immediately to the blast site while the injured are being taken to Civil Hospital Shikarpur.
Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) central leader Allama Mohammed Amin Shaheedi announced three days mourning, describing the incident a failure of the government.
He told Dawn that the party’s further course of action would be announced in a press conference later in the evening.
The Jafria Disaster Cell (JDC) demanded that the critically wouinded victims be immediately shifted to Karachi for treatment.
District Health Officer of Shikarpur, Dr Munir Jokhio, told dawn that at least 33 people had dies as a result of the explosion at the imambargah.
The condition of several wounded is said to be critical.
Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon told Dawn that an emergency had been imposed at all hospitals in Shikarpur and surrounding talukas and cities.
He added that provincial Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Sindh Health Minister Jam Mehtab Dahar have taken strong notice of the incident.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, President Mamnoon Hussain, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan and Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain issued condemnation messages against the incident.
A bomb disposal squad team has been dispatched to the area from Sukkur and rescue teams have reached Imam Bargah Maula Karbala where the explosion took place.
Speculation prevails that the explosion may have been carried out by a suicide bomber.
The incident comes as Pakistan is attempting to implement the National Action Plan to combat and root out terrorism from the country, an initiative that was set in motion after the Dec 16 attack on Peshawar’s Army Public School in December 2014.
It was the second major attack on an imambargah in the country since the beginning of 2015; the first being an attack on Rawalpindi’s Imambargah Aun Mohammad Rizvi in the garrison city’s Chatian Hatian area.
At the same time, Pakistani security forces are engaged in the North Waziristan and Khyber tribal regions — with the operation in Waziristan starting soon after a terrorist attack on Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport and the theatre of war expanding into Khyber.
BBN/SSR/AD-30Jan15-10:34 pm (BST)
