JHAL MAGSI Oct 6 (TNS): The death toll from the Jhal Magsi shrine explosion reached to 20 as one more victim succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.
According to the details 20 people were killed and 32 others were injured in a suicide explosion at Dargah Pir Rakhel Shah Fateh Pur, Jhal Magsi on Thursday.
Rescue officials shifted the injured to nearby hospitals. The seriously injured were shifted to Sibbi, Naseerabad and Quetta, while an emergency had been declared in local hospitals.
Security forces, Levies and police have cordoned off the area. The explosion took place at the shrine, where scores of people gathered to pay their respects.
Police has claimed that the blast was a suicide attack and the place where women were being busy in religious rituals was targeted.
District Police Officer Jhal Magsi Mohammad Iqbal has confirmed that it was a suicide blast, the bomber had tried to enter the shrine but a security guard stopped him, after which the attacker detonated the explosives.
“Suicide bomber entered in women camp and exploded himself when hundreds of people were busy collecting their food being distributed there,” police said.
Eye witness said that large number of devotees including women and children were gathered in the shrine. The Home minister Balochistan Sarfraz Bhugti said that the blast was suicide and at least seven people including a police personnel were killed in the blast.
On March 19, 2005, At least 40 people were killed in a blast at the same place. The bomb had exploded during the Urs of Sufi saint Pir Syed Rakheel Shah at his shrine in Jhal Magsi district when devotees had gathered in the kitchen compound for evening meal. The province’s top police official ruled out the possibility of a suicide bomber being behind the blast.
Earlier this year, at least 72 people were killed and over 200 injured when a suicide bomber struck in the midst of devotees at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sindh’s Sehwan town.
