LAHORE: A suicide blast at the funeral procession of a slain police officer killed at least 38 people including three senior police officials and more than 50 have been injured in the south-western Pakistani city of Quetta. Most of the dead and injured are policemen as the blast occurred outside Police Lines’ mosque where funeral prayer of a slain police officer was to be held. According to media reports, several injured are in critical condition.
Deputy Inspector General (Operations) Fayyaz Ahmed Sumbal, Superintendent of Police Ali Mehr and Deputy Superintendent of Police (Headquarters) Shamsuddin were among the dead. Baluchistan’s Inspector General of Police and Quetta’s Capital City Police Officer were also present in the area but survived the attack.
Earlier in the day, Quetta’s Station House Officer (SHO) City Mohibullah Jan was on his way to the market with his 4 kids and a driver when unidentified assailants opened fire on them in the Almo Chowk area. All of them were injured during the attack and were immediately taken to the hospital where Jan succumbed to his injuries.
Some 300 to 400 hundred police officials and relatives of Jan were gathered to attend the slain officer’s funeral prayer in the Police Lines where a suicide bomber blew himself up.
This is a developing story and will be updated accordingly.
