Blast at shrine in Baluchistan kills 29; tribesmen surround troops

Reports had earlier said that the blast was carried out by a suicide bomber and that about 50 people had been killed. Officials first said at least 32 people had been killed and the motive was either sectarian or separatist.

But Pakistan’s Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said 29 people had been killed and police were investigating the possibility that rivalry between caretakers of the shrine of Pir Rakhel Shah might have been behind the attack. Another possibility was that some conservatives were opposed to the celebration of the saint’s day.

Baluchistan has a history of sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia militants and has also been troubled recently by attacks by tribal militants fighting for autonomy. But Sherpao ruled out the possibility that Sunni-Shia rivalry or the tribal militants were behind the latest blast.

Security has been tight in Baluchistan since an attack by nationalist tribal militants on the country’s largest gas field, Sui, on January 11, in which 15 people were killed.

On Sunday, reports from Dera Bugti, where eight paramilitary soldiers were killed on Friday, said some 300 paramilitary troops, soldiers’ families and the commandant have been encircled by members of the Bugti tribe.

Provincial governor Awais Ahmed Ghani has urged Nawab Akbar Bugti, the chief of the tribe, to lift the siege. Thousands have fled the area fearing a battle and the government has said Akbar Bugti, also the leader of the Jhamboori Watan Party, was behind the mass exodus. But Bugti has denied issuing any ultimatum asking people to leave, saying food stocks had been exhausted and no fresh supplies reached the place.

On Saturday night, Sherpao had announced that the Army has been deployed in Sui as a security measure and to relieve Frontier Corps personnel stationed there.