13 dead in blast in Pakistan’s Quetta

ISLAMABAD - At least 13 people were killed in a powerful explosion that ripped through a procession taken out by the Shia community in Pakistan’s Quetta city Friday, media reports said.

The blast took place near Meezan Chowk in Quetta, capital of Balochistan province.

Initial reports confirmed 13 people were killed and over 20 were injured. However, no official confirmation of the toll is available as yet.

Rescue workers were shifting the bodies as well the injured to hospitals. Emergency has been declared in Quetta hospitals.

Security personnel have cordoned off the area as participants of the procession turned hostile.

Earlier in the day, two people were killed and six injured in a blast at a place of worship for the minority Ahmadi community in Canal Road area in Mardan town of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, while another explosion ripped through a police van leaving a policeman dead and three injured in Achini Bala area on the outskirts of Peshawar.

On Wednesday, three blasts in succession in Lahore killed at least 35 people and injured over 250.

(Awais Saleem can be contacted at ians.pakistan@gmail.com)