International Desk

At least 52 people have been killed and more than 50 injured in a suicide attack at a religious political party’s gathering to mark the birthday of the prophet Mohammed in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, health officials and police said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast, which comes amid a surge in the number of attacks claimed by militant groups in the west of the country, raising the stakes for security forces before national elections scheduled for January next year.

“The bomber detonated himself near the vehicle of the deputy superintendent of police,” the deputy inspector general of Police Munir Ahmed told Reuters, adding that the blast took place near a mosque where people were gathering for a procession to mark Mohammad’s birthday, which is a public holiday.

The Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella group of various hardline Sunni Islamist groups, denied it had carried out the attack.

The casualties were being treated at hospitals in Mastung, near Quetta. A senior police officer, Mohammad Nawaz, was among the dead, government administrator Atta Ullah said.

Friday’s bombing came days after the authorities asked police to remain on maximum alert as militants could target rallies marking the birthday of Islam’s prophet. Muslims in Pakistan and around the world gather to celebrate Mawlid an-Nabi with day-long celebrations, and also distribute free meals to people.

In a statement, the caretaker interior minister, Sarfraz Bugti, denounced the bombing and expressed sorrow and grief over the loss of life. He said it was a “heinous act” to target people at the Mawlid an-Nabi procession.

The government had declared a national holiday for Mawlid an-Nabi, and President Arif Alvi and the caretaker prime minister, Anwaarul-haq-Kakar, in separate massages had called for unity and for people to adhere to the teachings of Islam’s prophet.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, is a separate group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in neighbouring Afghanistan in August 2021 as US and Nato troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.

Previous deadly attacks in Baluchistan and elsewhere have been claimed by Islamic State. The gas-rich south-western Baluchistan province, at the border of Afghanistan and Iran, has been the site of a low-level insurgency by Baluch nationalists for more than two decades. Baluch nationalists initially wanted a share of provincial resources, but they later launched an insurgency calling for independence.

Source: The Guardian