Spiralling violence: Bomb tears through Dera Allah Yar Bazaar

At least nine killed, 24 wounded in the blast.


Mohammad Zafar March 23, 2013
Policemen inspect the devastation of the bomb blast in Dera Allah Yar. PHOTO: AFP

QUETTA:


At least nine people were killed and nearly two dozen wounded in a bomb explosion in Dera Allah Yar town of Jaffarabad district in Balochistan on Friday.


The bomb was planted in an auto rickshaw which was parked near a hotel in the main bazaar of Dera Allah Yar, police said. Police cordoned off the area, as rescuers shifted the casualties to the District Headquarters Hospital.

Seven people were killed on the spot and 26 others received injuries. Some of the injured – with life-threatening wounds – were referred to hospitals in neighbouring Jacobabad and Larkana districts.

Zafar Bukhari, the deputy commissioner of Jaffarabad, told The Express Tribune that the death toll rose to nine in the afternoon after two critically injured persons expired in hospital.

According to Bukhari, around eight shops, a car and two motorcycles were destroyed in the blast. “Most of the victims are passersby,” he said, adding that since it was Friday, most of the shops were closed; otherwise the death toll could have been higher.

Explosives experts said the bomb – weighing 25-30 kilogrammes – was remotely detonated.  No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi condemned the blast and ordered the deputy commissioner to arrest the culprits immediately.

Targeted attack

In other violence, four people were gunned down on the main RCD Highway in Kalat, some 160 kilometres away from Quetta on Friday.

A van, carrying four solar energy workers, pulled up at a fuel station in the Mugalzai area of Kalat when four masked gunmen opened fire on them, killing them on the spot, police official Muhammad Ishaq told The Express Tribune. Two passersby were also wounded in the attack.

According to the police, the four men were en route to Dasht-e-Gohran in Kalat from Karachi. They stayed at the house of Agha former minister Irfan Karim before leaving for their destination where they were supposed to install a solar panel.

The fatalities were shifted to the district headquarters hospital where three of them were identified as Irfan Rasool, Muhammad Hayat and Ghulam Ali. The fourth one could not be identified. A case was registered against unknown persons an investigation is under way.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23rd, 2013.

COMMENTS (1)

M Ali Khan | 11 years ago | Reply

BLA etc were behind these attacks, but its okay since they aren't Punjabis or a Jihadi group, no one will care about taking action against these armed fascist terrorists on social media.

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