 At least 49 people have died in Saturday's blast at a Sufi saint's shrine in Gandhawa in the Balochistan district of Jhal Magsi, a caretaker of the shrine said on Sunday. However, government officials said the death toll from the explosion was 29. The shrine's caretaker, Faqir Ghulam Hussain, said he had information about 49 people being killed and over 40 others being injured in the explosion. Asked about the lower official casualty figures, Hussain said the government officials knew about only the injured and dead taken to the hospital in Fatehpur town, where the shrine's located. The officials, he said, did not have information about the injured and dead bodies taken to hospitals in nearby cities of Nasirabad, Jacobabad, Dera Murad Jamali and Larkana. Hospital and police sources confirmed 27 bodies and 18 injured.
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao put the death toll at 29 and said police were investigating the possibility that rivalry between caretakers of the shrine might have been behind the attack. "One possibility that police are investigating is rivalry among the descendants of the saint...there were some disputes among relatives," Sherpao told Reuters. Another possibility was that some conservative Muslims were opposed to the celebration of the saint's day, which includes dancing and singing by women devotees, he said. But Sherpao ruled out the possibility that sectarian or tribal militants were behind the latest blast.
| My money's on sectarians, specifically Lashkar e-Jhangvi. But in Pakland, you never know... Well, actually you do, usually. But sometimes we can be surprised. |
Police said they were investigating whether a suicide bomber had detonated the powerful bomb. "Investigators have reached the site of the blast and are collecting evidence," Balochistan police chief Chaudhry Muhammad Yaqub earlier told AFP. Yaqoob said a timing mechanism had been found. "It was a time bomb because we found a time device," Yaqoob told Reuters. Officials said no one had claimed responsibility for the attack, which happened at around 10:30 pm. Hussain also ruled out enmity as the motive behind the explosion. "We have no enmity with anyone, " he said.
| Not that it'd matter in Pakland... |
Local police official Khadim Hussain said the bomb was a time device fixed in an area where the food was served, suggesting that it was not a suicide bombing. A second, unexploded bomb was found near the shrine shortly after the first device detonated, Mohammad Amin Umrani, the nazim of neighbouring Naseerabad district, told AFP. It was removed safely. The bomb went off as food was being distributed after a ceremony. It weighed about 2 kg, Sherpao said. Many of the injured were hurt in a stampede after the blast, he said. |