At least 16 persons, including five students were killed, and more than 38 others were wounded in a powerful bomb blast outside a religious seminary in the Satellite Town area of the provincial capital on Thursday.
The bomb was fixed to a bicycle parked outside the Jamia Islamia Miftah-ul-Uloom, where hundreds of seminary students were attending a graduation ceremony (Dastar bandi). Senior police officer Hamid Shakeel said the saboteurs placed the bomb outside the seminary because they could not enter the building.
Security forces and rescue teams rushed to the site soon after the blast, and moved the dead and the injured to nearby hospitals. A state of emergency was declared at the Civil Hospital, where Dr Muhammad Haider said that five children were also among the dead, adding that some of the injured were in critical condition. Those seriously injured were later moved to the Combined Military Hospital for further treatment. Police Deputy Inspector General (DIG-Investigations) Hamid Shakeel said the number of casualties would have been much higher if the bomb exploded inside the seminary. Bomb Disposal Squad officials said that around five to eight kilograms of explosives had been used in the blast, adding that splinters of nuts and bolts mixed in the explosives were also found from the blast site. Quetta Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Mir Zubair said the bomb was triggered with a remote-controlled device. He said the religious seminaries in the city had not received any threats. Police and Frontier Corps personnel cordoned off the area after the blast. The blast was so powerful that several vehicles plying on the road were damaged, and windows of nearby shops were shattered. “The ceremony was just about to conclude when the blast took place, jolting the entire building,” Qari Inyatullah, a senior student of the seminary told reporters. “We witnessed dozens of students and people lying on the ground in a pool of blood and shouting for help,” he added. A large number of relatives of the blast victims rushed to the hospital to enquire about the condition of their dear ones.
Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi and Chief Minister Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani condemned the blast and directed the authorities concerned to investigate the incident and take stern action against the culprits.
16 killed in bomb attack on Quetta madrassa
