India

25 Killed in Explosion in Balochistan

At least 25 people have been declared dead in an explosion in Pakistan’s Balochistan. The attack seemed to target a top lawmaker and Senator, Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Deputy Chair of Pakistan’s Upper House. The convoy which had Mr. Haideri leaving a religious school in Mustang was hit by the strike which left more than 40 people injured. Extremist group Islamic State (IS) has claimed the responsibility for the attack stating using a suicide bomber for the same.

It is reported that Mr Haideri was on his way back to Quetta after presenting graduation certificates to students. There have been many party workers injured and killed given the high presence. The most severely injured were airlifted to hospital in the provincial capital, Quetta.

The group also carried out an attack in Balochistan in November 2016 on a remote Sufi shrine, killing more than 50 people.

Three months later, more than 80 people died in a suicide attack on a Sufi shrine in Sindh province that IS said it carried out.

Balochistan is Pakistan’s poorest and least developed province. Separatist militants have been fighting the government there for decades and many other attacks have been attributed to Sunni Muslim extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

Mr Haideri represents the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) party, a Sunni Islamist party that is part of the ruling coalition.

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Shruti Bhatt

Shruti Bhatt is an engineering graduate, consumed with her passions day in and day out. An avid moviemaniac, a foodie, a bibliophile, and coffee-fashion-music enthusiast, Ms. Bhatt is on the way of becoming a raconteur - the word she is most fascinated with.