A bomb detonated in a Muharram procession near Shershah Haveli in Jacobabad's Lashari Mohalla Friday evening, killing at least 20 people and injuring many others, DawnNews reported.
Security and rescue teams rushed to the site following the explosion. The dead and the injured are being shifted to Civil Hospital Jacobabad, where an emergency has been declared.
Rescue sources told DawnNews that at least 20 persons were killed in the incident, including four children.
SSP Jacobabad Malik Zafar Iqbal Awan claimed “police have recovered lower part of a body of possible suicide bomber from the place of blast”.
Talking to Dawn over phone from the place of incident, he said that more than 15 people were killed in the attack.
He claimed that "lower part of a body is found which shows that it is possibly a suicide bombing".
The police officer explained that the blast took place in a six feet wide allay in Lashari Mohalla, where the procession was being attended by more than 20 mourners.
The director general health services of Sindh, Dr Hassan Murad Shah, said emergency has been declared in District Hospital Jacobabad. He, however, avoided confirming number of bodies that arrived at the district hospital.
Security personnel have cordoned off the area, while a search and rescue operation is being carried out.
Sectarian violence has claimed thousands of lives in the country over the past decade.
Yesterday, a suicide attacker blew himself outside an imambargah in Bolan’s Goth Chalghari area, killing at least 10 people and injuring many others.
It is the second deadliest bombing on a Shia congregation after 61 people killed and at least another 60 injured in a bomb explosion in an imambargah in upper Sindh district of Shikarpur on Jan 30, 2015.
The law enforcement agencies in Sindh had found a “nexus between sectarian terrorists and anti-state elements”, posing a threat to peace during Muharram.
The intelligence agencies were told to keep an eye on the Indian intelligence agency RAW during the month, it emerged.
The Sindh government had already imposed a ban on pillion riding in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Larkana.
Moreover, cell phone services have also been suspended in major cities, including Karachi, as a security measure during the observance Muharram.
The gatherings and processions during Muharram mark Hazrat Hussain's (RA) martyrdom in the Battle of Karbala, Iraq, in 680 AD.
http://www.dawn.com/news/1215087/bomb-targeting-muharram-procession-kills-20-in-jacobabad
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