There are still 30 injured
At least 13 people died and 30 were injured after a suicidal bombist exploded into a Baluchi political rally in southwest Pakistan, according to a new balance released on Wednesday.
Waseem Baig, spokesman for a government hospital in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, said the hospital received 13 bodies and dozens of injuries, some in critical condition.
Local police chief Majeed Qaisrani said the explosion occurred near a cemetery with a stadium outside Quetta, where hundreds of members of the Baluchistan National Party (BNP) were gathered.
Parts of the suicidal bomber’s body were recovered, said Majeed Qaisrani.
The initial balance pointed to 22 dead and 40 injured, according to two government officials who spoke under anonymity, cited by the France-Presse (AFP) news agency.
So far, no one has taken responsibility for this attack.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi blamed “terrorists supported by India and his facilitators” for the attack, without having evidence to support the allegation.
In recent months, the Pakistani government and Baluchistan chief minister Sarfraz Bugti have often accused India of supporting both the Pakistani Talibans and the Baluchis separatists, the accusation that Nova Delhi denies.
Also on Tuesday, 11 soldiers and paramilitaries were killed in other attacks, Baluchistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (northwest).
In the latter, six soldiers were killed in an attack on a headquarters of paramilitary troops, the army revealed, in an attack claimed by a small group linked to the Pakistani talibans.
The BNP claims to be the defender of the Baluchi minority, who feels disadvantaged in this province bordering Iran and Afghanistan, rich in minerals and hydrocarbons, but the poorest in Pakistan.
In Baluchistan, officially 70% of the population is poor, although the underground contains some of the largest unexplored mineral deposits in the world, and megaprojects, particularly those in China, generate significant revenues.
This region, where an armed insurgency thrives on this fertile soil, recorded the largest increase in violence in Pakistan in 2024, an increase of 90%, resulting in 782 deaths, according to the Islamabade -based research and security studies.
Since January 1, according to an AFP count, more than 430 people, most of the security forces, have been killed in acts of violence perpetrated by armed groups fighting the state, Baluchistan and neighboring Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
The year 2024 was the deadliest in almost a decade in Pakistan, with more than 1,600 deaths, almost half of which soldiers and police, according to the Center for Research and Security Studies.
