Pakistan shifts 4 Quetta cops over mosque attack

Humayun Jogezai, deputy police chief in Baluchistan Province, and two other senior police officials were transferred but not dismissed while a fourth official was suspended. The Associated Press, however, said the four officers were dismissed.

Friday’s grenade and gun attack, the first case of a sectarian suicide bombing, also injured more than 60 people. No group has claimed responsibility. Shiites in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan, have accused the police of failing to provide adequate security at the mosque.

‘‘We have taken some administrative steps and removed those who were found to be negligent in their duties,’’ a provincial official who asked not to be named said.

The official said police had taken three more members of outlawed Sunni Muslim group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi into custody following raids in Quetta. ‘‘So far, 22 suspects have been arrested in Quetta and they all belong to the defunct Lashkar-e-Jhangvi,’’ the official added.

The group is blamed for several deadly attacks on minority Shiites and has been linked to the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl last year. Meanwhile, Baluchistan Shiite Conference president Syed Ashraf Zaid was quoted by The News as saying: ‘‘The criminals, whose bodies are lying in the hospital are not locals. They are members of Al Qaeda.’’ Police have so far declined to identify the nationality of the attackers.