Balochistan: Death toll from Taftan bombing rises to 30

The Express Tribune News

The death toll from last night’s suicide attack on a hotel hosting Shia pilgrims in Taftan rose to 30 on Monday, Express News reported.

The death toll was earlier reported as 23 with many injured but 7 more victims succumbed to their injuries in the hospital. Tahafuz-e-Azadari Council has announced a three-day mourning period following the attack.

On late Sunday night, a suicide bomber had entered Al Murtaza Hotel in Taftan, a district on the border with Iran, and detonated explosives strapped to his body in the midst of Shia pilgrims, security sources had told The Express Tribune. Levies and Frontier Corps personnel had engaged the attackers in a gunfight. FC spokesperson Khan Wasey had claimed in a statement that one of the bombers was killed by the paramilitary troops.

A banned outfit Jaishul Islam had claimed responsibility for the attack. A purported spokesperson for the group, Azam Tariq, had called Quetta-based journalists from an undisclosed location to claim credit for the deadly attack. Sources had said that intelligence agencies had warned of possible attacks on pilgrims one month ago, but the authorities had failed to put in place adequate security to thwart Sunday’s attack.

The Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen, Hazara Democratic Party, Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Fiqa-e-Jaferia and Tahaffuz-e-Azadari Council had condemned the attack and called it failure of the government.