Quetta Blast Leaves Blood, Mangled Bodies Strewn Across Compound

Thereafter, bloodied bodies were strewn in the compound. People were seen carrying the dead and the injured in rickshaws and rushed them to the hospital. Rescue officials arrived on the spot later.

Written by: India.com News Desk

Updated: July 14, 2018, 10:28 AM IST

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Quetta, July 14: At least 128 people were killed and nearly 150 injured after a blast rocked a political rally in Balochistan’s capital Quetta last evening. The death toll was confirmed by Balochistan Home Minister Agha Umar Bungalzai, as per AFP. Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) leader Siraj Raisani was among those who had been killed. The blast in the Mastung town took place after a suicide bomber blew himself up in the middle of a compound where the political meeting was taking place.

Salam Baloch, one of the political workers, said that all he saw was clouds of smoke preceded by a loud deafening blast. Thereafter, bloodied bodies were strewn in the compound. People were seen carrying the dead and the injured in rickshaws and rushed them to the hospital. Rescue officials arrived on the spot later, said Baloch.

As per an AFP reporter, the ones who had survived were covered in blood and were also rushed to the hospital nearby. Meanwhile, the dead were seen covered in shrouds. Emergency workers also lend a helping hand and shuttled the victims to the hospital in an ambulance.

Politician Akram Khan Durrani, a candidate of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) party who too was present at the time of the blast, survived, confirmed the police. In the aftermath of the deadly attack, the military has warned of security threats in the run-up to the election on July 25. The Army will over 370,000 soldiers on the day of election.

Meanwhile, Omar Waraich, deputy South Asia director at Amnesty International said, “The Pakistani authorities have a duty to protect the rights of all Pakistanis during this election period — their physical security and their ability to express their political views freely, regardless of which party they belong to.”

The deadly attack came hours after four people were killed and 39 were injured when a bomb hidden inside a motorcycle detonated close to a politician’s convoy in Bannu, near Afghanistan’s border yesterday. Earlier this week, a bomb was targeted at a rally by the Awami National Party (ANP) in the city of Peshawar which killed ANP leader Haroon Bilour and 22 others.