More than 50 people were yesterday killed and dozens more wounded in Pakistan’s Balochistan Province by a suicide bomber targeting a procession marking the birthday of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed, officials said.
A second suicide attack by two men at a mosque hundreds of kilometers north in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province led to a roof collapse that killed four people, officials said.
While the celebration of the prophet’s birthday is accepted by the majority of Islamic sects in Pakistan and elsewhere in the Muslim world, certain denominations view it as an unwarranted innovation.
Photo: EPA-EFE
In Balochistan, officials said a suicide bomber detonated a device as rallies from neighborhood mosques converged on a meeting point in Mastung, about 40km south of the provincial capital, Quetta.
“My feet trembled and I was thrown to the ground,” 49-year-old Hazoor Bakhsh said.
“As the dust settled, I saw people scattered in all directions, some screaming while others called out for help,” he said.
Local hospitals were overwhelmed by the number of wounded, and provincial authorities used social media platforms to appeal for blood donors.
The death toll kept climbing throughout the day.
“I can confirm that the death toll has increased to 52, with over 70 individuals injured,” said Munir Ahmed Shaikh, deputy inspector-general of Balochistan’s police force.
Every year, mosques and government buildings are elaborately illuminated with strings of lights, and people march in processions to mark the prophet’s birthday.
On the same occasion in April 2006, a suicide bomber killed at least 50 people in the port city of Karachi after detonating a device at a gathering of Sunni Muslims.
Balochistan Minister for Information Jan Achakza, announced a three-day mourning period.
Hundreds of kilometers north in Hangu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, four people were killed after the roof of a mosque collapsed following a suicide attack.
“Two militants, armed with automatic firearms, hand grenades and suicide vests attempted to breach the mosque’s security,” senior district police officer Nisar Ahmad said.
“They were intercepted at the main entrance leading to an exchange of gunfire. One of them detonated his vest, while the other managed to enter the mosque’s hall through a window,” Ahmad said.
Most of those inside had managed to escape as the shooting started, but the detonation of the second bomber’s vest brought the roof down, killing four people, he said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
RSS