At least 13 injured as police foil suicide blasts targeting Eid prayers in Shikarpur

[Devil Soul]

At least 13 injured as police foil suicide blasts targeting Eid prayers in Shikarpur
AP | AZHAR GUL SARKI — UPDATED ABOUT 2 HOURS AGO
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SHIKARPUR: At least 13 people, including five cops, were injured as police foiled two separate suicide blasts during Eid prayers in Shikarpur's Khanpur tehsil on Monday.

Police sources said four suicide attackers infiltrated Khanpur during Eid prayers.

Two of the attackers targeted an Eid prayer ground where one assailant blew himself up, injuring 10 people, two of whom were policemen. The other attacker fled, police sources said.

Two other attackers targeted an imambargah but were stopped by police at the entrance on account of appearing suspicious. One of the attackers blew himself up after he was stopped by guards for a search, whereas the other was arrested, police said.

Police officer Bahardin Kerio said the second attacker, a would-be suicide bomber, was shot and wounded at the scene, after which the officers arrested him.

Three police officers were wounded in the explosion. Kerio said one of the wounded officers was in critical condition.

He added that there were hundreds of worshippers inside the imambargah at the time.

Those injured in the blast have been admitted to hospitals in Shikarpur for treatment.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.


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[Devil Soul]

At least 10 injured in suicide blast during Eid prayers in Shikarpur Imambargah
By News Desk / AFP
Published: September 13, 2016
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File photo of a blast at an Imambargah in Rawalpindi. PHOTO: MOHAMMAD JAVAID/EXPRESS

At least 10 people, including four policemen, were injured as a suicide bomber blew himself up during Eidul Azha prayers in an Imambargah at Shikarpur district’s Khanpur tehsil on Tuesday, Express News reported.

Officials said two suicide bombers tried to enter the Khanpur Imambargah but were intercepted by police. “Four of our men are injured of whom one is critical” Umar Tufail, a senior local police officer told AFP.

Tufail added doctors were also trying to save the life of the other suspected bomber, who was injured when the first one blew himself up but failed to detonate himself.

“The attackers came as the worshippers were gathering to offer Eid prayers. Police were able to stop him at the gate outside the mosque,” Sindh Police chief AD Khawaja said. Worshippers overpowered the second would-be suicide bomber as the police were reeling from their injuries, he added.

Police and rescue officials reached the site of the blast and the injured were shifted to local hospitals for treatment.

At least 14 killed, 52 wounded in suicide blast at Mardan district courts

The blast comes at a time when the nation is celebrating Eidul Azha to commemorate the supreme sacrifice of Prophet Ibrahim (AS). Officials had earlier claimed to have taken stringent security measures to tackle any untoward incident.

Last year, at least 61 people had been killed and 50 others injured in an explosion at a Shikarpur Imambargah during Friday prayers. Police said the devastating explosion was a suicide attack and the bomber detonated the explosives strapped to his body “in the middle of the mosque”.

Pakistan has been hit by frequent sectarian violence in recent years, most of it perpetrated by hardline Sunni Muslim groups against minority Shia Muslims, who make up around one in five of the population. The January 2015 attack on the Shias in Shikarpur, blamed on the Sunni militant Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group, led to a wave of nationwide protests.

 

[Kabira]

"Initial interrogation of the arrested attacker, Usman, revealed that the would-be bomber was a resident of Swat's Qabal tehsil and had studied in Karachi's Abu Huraira seminary, police sources said."

TTP? Anyway great work Sindh police!