Suicide blast kills up to 35 in Pakistan

 

Up to 35 people were killed and 46 wounded on Thursday when a suspected suicide bombing ripped through a crowd of worshippers outside a Shia mosque on Thursday, reports DawnNews TV.

Police said the blast targeted dozens of people converging on the Al-Hussainia mosque after dark in the town of Dera Ghazi Khan, shortly before a religious gathering. 

‘The death toll is now 30,’ a senior security official earlier told AFP on condition of anonymity. ‘It is increasingly clear that it was a suicide attack.’ 

Either toll would make it the deadliest bombing in Pakistan since a suicide attack struck a meeting of anti-Taliban tribal leaders in the northwest border areas near Afghanistan and killed at least 40 people last October 10.

Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility for Thursday's blast, police were swift to blame sectarian extremists following a wave of similar violence in the country.

‘Ninety-nine per cent it looks like a suicide attack,’ said Shaukat Javed, the highest ranking police commander in Punjab province.

‘The blast occurred when a group of about 50 Shia Muslims were returning to the mosque after visiting a nearby place,’ said Javed.

‘The explosion occurred just 50 feet short of the mosque. It is a terrorist attack aimed at Shias to create unrest,’ he added.