At least 73 people were killed and over 100 injured in a suicide attack on a rally in Quetta, Pakistan, the police said Friday. “There may be more casualties as some of the injured are in serious condition,” a police official at the site told this newspaper.
He said the suicide attacker hit a rally as the demonstrators were marking Al-Quds Day to show solidarity with the Palestinian people on probably the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramzan.
Another police official said the bomb was planted at Meezan Chowk and exploded when the rally reached there.
“We are investigating both things. It may be a suicide attack but it looked more like a planted bomb,” he added. Later, the inspector-general of police, Balochistan, Malik Mohammad Iqbal, confirmed the blast was a suicide attack. The IG said the police had earlier tried to stop the rally from going towards Meezan Chowk citing security concerns, but the participants refused to follow instructions.