- Three killed, several injured in attack on imambargah in Rawalpindi
- Attacker gunned down in exchange of fire with security personnel
- Security officials say major disaster averted as assailant failed to detonate explosives strapped to body
Three people were killed and several others injured in an attack on a Shia imambargah on Kurri Road in Rawalpindi on Wednesday.
Jundullah, a splinter group of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack. Speaking from an unknown location, spokesman of the group Fagad said that the attack was a reaction to Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan.
According to initial investigations, the blast occurred when a would-be suicide bomber threw hand grenades and opened indiscriminate fire inside the Qasar-e-Sakina Imambargah after being stopped at the gate by security personnel. The imambargah is located in the vicinity of expressway, the main highway which links the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
Police officials said that the attacker was gunned down in an exchange of fire with the security personnel. They said that fortunately the attacker had failed in detonating his explosives-laden jacket, which could have caused massive casualties as a large congregation was present inside the imambargah for Maghrib prayers.
A police official said that the worshippers remained safe as the casualties include the people who were at the entrance and deployed for the security of the imambargah.
An eyewitness Muhammad Yousaf said, “When I heard the first shot, I locked the door and told worshippers to hide in the hall. People rushed inside to the mosque and saved themselves.”
He added that Maghrib prayers had started when the attacker struck, and that security guard Ghulam Hussain was killed.
Another eyewitness said that the suicide bomber was about 20-25 years old and was speaking in Seraiki.
Medical teams and police authorities rushed to the site soon after the incident was reported and the injured and dead bodies were moved to PIMS and Polyclinic Hospital.
A PIMS spokesperson later told reporters that all of the attack victims brought to the hospital had suffered bullet wounds in their heads and chest.
Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) leader Asghar Askari accused the government of colluding with militants against Shias.
“This is the fourth attack [on the Shia community]; this government is a murderous and terrorist government. We have been lifting bodies due to them.” He alleged that the Punjab government has given support to these terrorists.
“Zarb-e-Azb should be spread to the whole of Punjab,” he said in an appeal to Army Chief General Raheel Sharif. “Hundreds of thousands of Shias and Sunnis will be united in a march to the capital.”
FOURTH ATTACK:
This is the fourth in a series of major attacks targeting the Shia community this year.
On February 14, at least 21 people were killed and 50 others injured during a gun and bomb attack at an imambargah in Peshawar’s Hayatabad area when suicide attackers and gunmen dressed in police uniforms attacked worshippers offering Friday prayers.
Two weeks earlier, a suicide bombing at an imambargah in Shikarpur killed 61 people, the deadliest sectarian incident to hit the country in nearly two years.
Jundullah, a splinter group of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which last year pledged support for the Islamic State took responsibility for the Shikarpur attack as well as the Peshawar imambargah attack.
The Jamaatul Ahrar faction of banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed a January attack on a Rawalpindi imambargah which killed eight people and wounded 16 others.
The attacks on Shias come amid the ongoing National Action Plan (NAP) aimed at ridding the country of terrorism following the Taliban massacre at Peshawar’s Army Public School in December 2014, which claimed over 140 lives — with most of the victims being children.
