With 149 martyred, Mastung is one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Pakistan's history

186 people were injured raising the total number of casualties to a whopping 335

Moment when bomb exploded in Mastung, PHOTO: TWITTER/HamidMirPAK

KARACHI:
The death toll of Mastung attack has risen to 149 including nine minors, making it one of the deadliest attacks in the country's history.

186 others were injured, raising the total number of casualties to a whopping 335, according to an official communiqué by the deputy commissioner Mastung.

PHOTO: EXPRESS


The deadliest was the 2007 Karsaz attack, in which over 160 people were killed when former PM Benazir Bhutto's convoy was targeted by terrorists in Karachi.

In 2014, Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) terrorists killed 147 in an attack on Army Public School.

72 lives were lost in the suicide blast at Lal Shahbaz Qalandar's shrine in 2017.

Balochistan mourns Mastung carnage

In 2016, at least 70 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted emergency services of a hospital in Quetta after a lawyer's killing.

The death toll of the Wagah Border blast in 2014 was 61 when a suicide bomber exploded himself at the Pakistan-India border crossing.

Pakistan has endured a wave of attacks in the last 15 years. However, the security situation of the country moderately improved since the last five years.

Attacks were halted and lives were saved because of timely intelligence. But this was not enough to thwart the nefarious attempts of terrorists breeding under the umbrella of foreign hostile intelligence agencies.

Terrorists started achieving success in their attacks as the general elections day came closer. The month of July has witnessed three major attacks.


Awami National Party (ANP) candidate Haroon Bilour was martyred on July 10. Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) candidate Akram Durrani survived an assassination attempt on July 13.

Later, on the same afternoon a powerful bomb blast targeted a Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) corner meeting in Mastung killing scores of people.

Murder and mayhem in Mastung

Among those slain was the candidate for PB-35 (Mastung) Siraj Raisani, whose elder brother Nawab Aslam Raisani had served as the Balochistan chief minister from 2008 to 2013.

This has been the deadliest in a string of attacks on electioneering that have heightened security fears ahead of the elections.

The blast – which was claimed by the militant group Islamic State  – ripped through the corner meeting in Dringar village of Mastung district, some 35km away from the provincial capital making it one of the deadliest in the country.

List of deceased in Mastung attack

PHOTO: EXPRESS


PHOTO: EXPRESS


PHOTO: EXPRESS


PHOTO: EXPRESS


PHOTO: EXPRESS


PHOTO: EXPRESS
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