As reported by an official, 16 people were killed and 30 got injured due to a bomb attack at an open-air market in Pakistan’s Quetta, early Friday. As per the senior official Abdul Razaq Cheema, the exact location of the blast is Hazarganji near Quetta.
The provincial police chief of Balochistan has confirmed that eight Shia Hazaras along with one security official and workers from the market were among the victims. Shia Hazaras is a Muslim minority group that has repeatedly been the target of Sunni extremists, who consider the former as a dissident. For years, the Hazaras have lived and are still struggling with continuous fear Quetta, and promises made by successive governments have failed to ensure their safety.
The bomb was there in the sack of potato. As during early hours’ truck with vegetables from outside comes into the market and then delivered in Quetta through different smaller vehicles, so the market was very crowded and it was unidentifiable for the presence of the bomb
None of the groups has claimed the responsibility for the attack. The police ruled out a suicide bombing and are now investigating whether a remote control or a timed device had set off the bomb.
The attack was widely condemned by government officials and rights groups. Amnesty International said in a statement, “This horrific loss of life is a painful reminder of the threats that Quetta’s Hazara community continues to face. Each time, there are promises that more will be done to protect them, and each time those promises have failed to materialize.”
In the past few years, the frequency of terrorist attacks have declined significantly but, Friday’s attack was a reminder that the Hazaras continue to remain unsafe to militant violence and the security provided to them is insufficient.
