2023-09-29 10:32:52
At least 52 people have died and more than 50 have been injured because of a suicide attack perpetrated this Friday in front of a mosque in the Pakistani city of fatteninglocated in the Balochistan province. The attack occurred when hundreds of worshipers were celebrating the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the brutal attack.
The authorities have indicated that the explosion occurred near the vehicle of the number two of the local police superintendent, Nauaz Gishkori, shortly before a religious procession next to the Madina mosque, as reported by the newspaper ‘Dawn’. The Minister of Information of the Provincial Government, Jan Achakzai, has indicated that the seriously injured are being transferred to the capital, Quetta, before denouncing that “the enemy wants destroy religious tolerance and peace in Balochistan, with blessing from abroad.”
Instability in the region
This is the second explosion to occur in Mastung this month. On September 14, at least 11 people, including a senior official of the Yamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl party, were injured, while in May a police officer died during a attack on a vaccination team against poliomyelitis in the surroundings of the town.
At the end of last July, this political group suffered another suicide attack during a rally that caused at least 63 deaths and 120 injuries, and which was claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State of Khorasan, a local branch of the terrorist group.
After learning what happened, the interim Minister of the Interior of Pakistan, Sarfraz Bugti, has condemned on platform and improve security in the country. “We are committed to a policy of zero tolerance against terrorists,” Bugti added.
For his part, the interim head of the Balochistan Government, Mir Ali Mardan Domki, has announced three days of mourning to express solidarity with the families of the deceased, as reported in X by the acting provincial Minister of Information Jan Achakzai.
Increase in violence
The attack comes amid a surge in armed violence in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban came to power in Kabul in August 2021, which reignited attacks by their Pakistani ideological brethren, especially in the Afghan border provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
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This last province is also a common scene of violence, with the presence of armed groups, Taliban factions and jihadist groups.
The country has seen 271 attacks during the first half of the year, in which 389 people were killed and another 656 injured, according to a report published in early July by the Pakistan Institute of Security and Conflict Studies. A significant increase in numbers compared to the same period in 2022, when Pakistan suffered 151 attacks that caused 293 deaths and 487 injuries.
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