Balochistan blast: Pakistan blames India’s RAW for suicide attack

Pakistan’s Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti has blamed India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) intelligence agency for a suicide blast in Balochistan that killed 60 people, according to media reports.

Pakistani officials have long claimed that India sponsors violent groups in Pakistan, claims India has always denied.

Also read: Pakistan: Second suicide bomb attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; death toll rises to 57

According to the Dawn report, “no group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far; however, the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), responsible for some of the bloodiest attacks in Pakistan, denied involvement.”

The Pakistani daily also provided a set of chronological data to show how Pakistan has “witnessed a rise in terrorist activities in recent months, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, after the TTP ended its ceasefire with the government in November last year”.

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On Friday, a suicide bomber attacked people preparing for a procession related to Eid Miladun Nabi, near a mosque in Mastung district of Balochistan.

Hours after the blast in Balochistan, a second attack occurred at a mosque in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hangu town.

The incident took place at the Doaba police station premises during the Friday sermon.

The preliminary report of the incident has been submitted to Balochistan Acting Chief Minister Ali Mardan Khan Domki. The acting CM also chaired a high-level session to review the progress of the investigation into the Mastung suicide blast.

Earlier this month, at least 11 people, including Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Hafiz Hamdullah, were injured in an explosion in the same district; a week earlier, a security officer was shot dead at a bus stop by unidentified men. In May this year, unidentified assailants attacked a polio vaccination team in the Killi Sour Karez area on the outskirts of Mastung.