Taliban suicide bomber kills 30 at police funeral
Print Edition
A Taliban suicide bomber killed 30 people at the funeral of a policeman in Pakistan yesterday, including five senior police officers, in the third deadly attack on government targets in two weeks.
The scene in the western city of Quetta was chaotic as injured police struggled to carry bloodstained colleagues into ambulances.
“They are not Muslims. They are not humans,” said Inspector General Mushtaq Sukhera.
“We have no other option but to fight against terrorists,” he added. “We have made sacrifices and will continue to do so and will not bow down.”
At least 30 people were confirmed dead and 62 wounded, Babar Yaqoob Fateh Mohammad, the provincial chief secretary, said.
Twenty-one of the dead were police officers, Sukhera said. Others had not been identified but children were among the dead and wounded, Mohammed said.
Fayyaz Sumbal, the deputy inspector general of operations for Quetta, was among those killed. The Taliban claimed responsibility.
“We killed the station-house officer and then we targeted the funeral to kill the other officers,” Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said.
He said the Taliban carried out the attack in revenge for the arrest and mistreatment of their fighters.
Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan, is home to many militants, including the Taliban, sectarian groups and separatist fighters.
The explosion, at a supposedly secure location in one of Pakistan’s most heavily militarized cities, again called into question the ability of the security services to curb the escalating insurgency.
The Quetta attack was captured live on television. Weeping policemen were seen wandering among the blood and body parts, looking for colleagues or sitting in shock.
The suicide bomber was wearing a jacket packed with ball bearings and shrapnel, a bomb squad member said.
The bomber had tried to enter the mosque where senior officers lined up to offer prayers for their colleague, who was gunned down earlier yesterday. But he was stopped and detonated his explosives outside, witnesses said.
On July 24, militants bombed military intelligence headquarters in the city of Sukkur and fought a gun battle with security forces, killing seven and wounding at least 40.
Last week, more than 100 militants attacked a prison in Dera Ismail Khan freeing 250 prisoners, including Taliban commanders.
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