At least 52 killed, 100 injured in blast at Shah Noorani’s Shrine in Pakistan

Tehsildar Javed Iqbal said security arrangements at the Shah Noorani shrine were not properly arranged. “It is sad that although thousands of devotees from Karachi and other parts of the country visit the shrine everyday but there are no medical emergencies or ambulances at the site,” he said.

“The shrine is located some 250 kilometres from Karachi in the remote mountains of Uthal and our vehicles have been dispatched there to carry out rescue operations and shift the injured to the hospitals,” said Hakeen Lassi, an official of the Edhi Trust Foundation.

Rescue teams had reached the blast site and started shifting the deceased and injured to the hospital. However, rescuers were facing difficulty in accessing the site as the shrine is located in a remote area. The death toll is feared to rise with women and children casualties in the deadly blast.

He said the devotees take part in the ‘dhamaal’ everyday after sunset and the blast took place close to where they were dancing in a trance inside the compound of the shrine.

President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have strongly condemned the bomb blast. They directed the concerned authorities to speed up the rescue activities and provide best medical facilities to the injured.Political leaders including Imran Khan and Maryam Nawaz Sharif also expressed grief over the killing of people in the blast.

Hub blast. Very sad news. May Allah protect Pakistan. Heart goes out to the injured & the bereaved.

— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) November 12, 2016

Shocked at blast in Khuzdar, Balochistan at shrine of Shah Noorani: terrible loss of life. Govt must immed send helis to this remote area

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) November 12, 2016

We must move resolutely ag sectarian terrorism striking at core of our society. Shah Noorani shrine latest target of condemnable terror act

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) November 12, 2016

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This is not the first time that extremists have targeted a shrine in Balochistan. This is the third major incident of a bomb going off in the province since August. In August about 70 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack outside the civil hospital in the provincial capital Quetta. Last month, 64 police cadets and two army men were killed when three terrorists raided a police training centre in Quetta.

(With inputs from PTI)