No fewer than 50 people have been confirmed dead and many others injured following bomb attacks in two different Pakistan provinces, officials have disclosed.
A large bomb detonated on Friday in the Balochistan province’s southwest region close to a mosque in Mastung city, where people had gathered to commemorate the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday.
Video footage shared on social media which was obtained by Africa Today News, New York on Saturday showed a large number of people, including many children, standing near the mosque before the bomb blast ripped through the crowd.
No one has claimed responsibility, officials in Mastung said, adding that the blast was caused by suicide bombers.
Mastung police official Javed Lehri told reporters that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an outlawed group also known as Pakistan Taliban, claimed it had ‘nothing to do with the attack’.
‘No other group has so far claimed responsibility,’ he said, adding that the celebration was organised by two local religious parties.
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Saeed Mirwani, chief executive of the Shaheed Nawab Ghous Bakhsh Raisani Memorial Hospital in Mastung, said that 52 people died in the explosion.
Later in the day, at least five people died and more than 10 were injured after two attackers in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa attempted to enter a police station in Hangu city, Fazal Akbar, a city official, told local media.
Police fired upon the attackers and they fled towards a nearby mosque, Akbar said.
‘One of them blew himself up at the gate, but the second one managed to enter the mosque. Thankfully, most of the people in the mosque managed to escape due to the first blast, which is why our casualty count was less,’ he said.
Similar to the attack in Mastung, no one claimed responsibility for the second bombing.
Pakistan Taliban issued a statement condemning both attacks and called the loss of life ‘tragic’.
‘The goals of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan are clear. Mosques, seminaries, schools and public gatherings are not among our targets. We have nothing to do with today’s two blasts and we strongly condemn them,’ the statement from Pakistan Taliban spokesman Muhammad Khorasani read.
The two attacks on Friday come as the country faces a dramatic resurgence in violent attacks against its security officials and civilians.
According to data from the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS), an Islamabad-based research organisation, more than 300 attacks have been carried in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this year.
Pakistan has repeatedly urged the neighbouring Afghan government, currently led by the Taliban, to help stem the rising wave of violence.