Islamabad : At least 15 people were killed and 36 others injured in a suicide bomb attack on a procession by minority Shias in Pakistan’s Sindh province today, a day after 12 others were killed in another suicide attack at a Shia shrine in Balochistan on the eve of Muharram.
The bomber targeted a Shiite procession being taken out as part of Muharram festival in Jacobabad. District police chief Shah Zaman Khuro confirmed the attack.
“So far 15 people have been killed and about 36 injured,” he said. Deputy Superintendent Police (DSP) Khuda Bakhash said it was a suicide bombing.
Police said that the death toll may rise as some of the injured were in critical condition. The attack comes just a day after 12 other people were killed in a suicide bombing at a Shia shrine in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province. The minority Shia’s are regularly attacked by extremist Sunni militant groups in Pakistan who consider them as heretics. It was the second major attack that targeted the minority Shia Muslims in the holy month of Muharram when they organise special prayers and take out processions to observe the martyrdom of Hussain Ibne Ali, the grandson of the Prophet.
Sectarian violence has claimed thousands of lives in the country over the past decade. The government has taken extraordinary security measures for the two most important days of the month of Muharram with thousands of paramilitary rangers and police deployed in major cities and towns to avoid any terrorist attacks which could trigger off sectarian violence. Earlier this week, at least 10 people, were killed in an explosion in a bus in the provincial capital Quetta.
