At least 21 people were killed and 50 others injured in a suicide bombing at a crowded market in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province on Friday, in an attack believed to be targeting the Shiite Hazara ethnic minority community.
Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the attack and orderedan inquiry.
The explosion at around 7:35 AM took place in the busywholesale market area of Hazarganj in Quetta where Hazaras and other traderscome daily to buy fruits and vegetables to later sell at their shops in otherparts of the city.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Abdul Razzaq Cheema said thatthe blast, which occurred when the vegetable and fruit sacks were being loadedonto trucks by the traders, targeted the Hazara ethnic community.
However, Home Minister Ziaullah Langove, in a pressconference, said that the blast was not targeting “a specific community”.
“Our guess is that no specific community was targeted. MarriBaloch and Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were among those killed as well. Thenumbers of the Hazara community were just greater,” Langove said.
He also described the blast as a suicide attack.
Officials said that 21 people have been killed and 50 othersinjured in the blast.
An Edhi welfare trust rescue official at the scene of theblast said he had counted around 21 bodies being taken to hospitals.
At least eight of those killed in the bomb blast are fromthe Hazara community, Cheema said.
The security forces fear the death toll may rise, GEO Newsreported.
Buildings located nearby were also damaged in the blast,police said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Cheema said that due to the blast, security has beenprovided to shopkeepers and traders at the market.
“Traders who come from other parts of the city to buy fruitsand vegetables at the market are escorted by police and Frontier Corppersonnel,” the officer said.
Cheema said around 70 traders had come to the market indifferent vehicles and were escorted by the FC and Police.
He said that the police and FC personnel had put up blocksat the entrance and exit of the market.
“The security forces are here, police are here. What morecan we do? We secure them (the community) and travel back and forth with them.If something is hidden in a shop, then the shopkeepers will need to be probed,”the officer said.
Hazaras make up a significant minority group in Pakistan andmost of them live in Quetta.
This is not the first time that the Hazara community hasbeen targeted by militants in the province.
Qadir Nayil, a Hazara community leader, asked the governmentto ensure better protection.
“Once again our people were the target and once again wewill have to bury our dear ones,” he said.
There have been similar terror attacks in the Hazarganj areaof Quetta in the past. The market serves as a wholesale market for fruits andvegetables.
Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal condemned the attackand assured that the elements involved in the attack and those leading themwould be proceeded against.
“People who have an extremist mindset are a menace to thesociety. We must foil the conspiracy to disrupt peace,” he said.
Nearly half-a-million Hazaras have settled in Balochistan,many of them after fleeing war-torn Afghanistan.
The National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) last yearstated that 509 members of the Hazara community were killed and 627 injured invarious incidents of terrorism in Quetta from January 2012 to December 2017.
NCHR official Fazeela Alyani earlier said that all theselives were lost in Quetta.
According to the NCHR, targeted killings, suicide attacks and bomb blasts have inflicted harm to daily life, education, and business activities of ethnic Hazara community members in Balochistan’s largest city Quetta.