At least 15 killed in attack on Shiites in Pakistan

The suspected suicide blast came with the country on high alert for the mourning days of Ashura, during the holy month of Muharram.

A girl injured in the attack lies on a bench at a hospital in Jacobabad. Stringer/Reuters

ISLAMABAD // At least 15 people were killed and dozens injured in a suspected suicide blast targeting Shiites in the southern Pakistani city of Jacobabad on Friday, police and hospital officials said.

The attack came with Pakistan on high alert for the mourning days of Ashura, during the holy month of Muharram, a flashpoint for sectarian violence in years past.

“Many injured and bodies were brought to the Civil Hospital,” senior police officer Zafar Iqbal said, who initially described it as a suicide attack but later said authorities were still investigating.

Civil Hospital chief Dr Altaf Wagan confirmed that at least 15 bodies and more than 36 injured had been brought in.

He said that more wounded had been moved to two hospitals near by.

The attack came outside the residence of a Shiite leader as devotees were setting off towards a main procession in the city, 500 kilometres from Karachi, Mr Iqbal said.

Witnesses described the wounded being rushed to hospital by ambulance and by auto-rickshaw.

Reports said children were also seriously hurt.

“We were three kilometres from the spot and heard the blast,” said Jan Odhano, a rights activist in Jacobabad.

“We rushed towards it. We saw people running here and there, some were crying and wailing. We could see blood on the clothes of some people.”

Provincial transport minister Mumtaz Jakharani, who was at the hospital, said that 15 to 20 people were “martyred”.

He said protesters had gathered at the hospital. Some damaged medical equipment.

“The doctors are scared of the agitated people,” provincial health minister Jam Mehtab Dahar said. “I call upon the protesters to calm down and help us treat the injured.”

Mr Dahar confirmed that the injured were also sent to a hospital at the Shahbaz Airbase and the Jacobabad Institute of Medical Sciences, with others sent by helicopter to the nearby city of Larkana.

Pakistan deployed 10,000 troops and 6,000 paramilitary members to prevent sectarian violence during Muharram.

Yesterday’s attack came a day after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a mosque, killing at least 11 Shiites, including six children, in the town of Chalgari in Baluchistan province.

* Agence France-Presse