Imambargah blast: 11 bombing victims laid to rest in Bagh

Banned group claims responsibility for suicide attack

QUETTA: Funerals of the 11 Shia mourners slain in a suicide bombing at an imambargah in Bhag a day earlier were held on Friday.

A teenage suicide bomber had exploded himself inside a place of worship in the Bagh tehsil of Balochistan, some 300 kilometres from the provincial capital of Quetta, just as Maghrib prayers were under way.

Eleven people were killed and another 13, including children, had suffered injuries in the blast inside the Kazmia Imambargah.

On Friday, the funerals of the deceased were held in Bhag, where a large number of people, including the district deputy commissioner and other officials, offered the prayers.

Earlier, the four families who lost their loved ones in the bombing also staged a sit-in on the National Highway in Bolan and refused to bury their dead. The families placed the bodies on the road, blocking traffic for hours.

The families agreed to end their protest after successful negotiations with government officials to immediately arrest the perpetrators of the attack.

According to the Balochistan Levies, a case has been registered on behalf of Risaldar Abdul Sattar against unidentified suspects under sections 302, 304 and 437 of the Pakistan Penal Code, sections 3, 4, 5 of the Explosive Act and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Further investigations are under way.

Meanwhile, the outlawed, sectarian outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the bombing.  LeJ spokesman Usman Saifullah called a newspaper office in Quetta, claiming his organisation had sent the bomber to target the imambargah.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2015.