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Death toll from Pakistan blast rises to 24: Minister

 

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Death toll from Pakistan blast rises to 24: Minister
A girl injured by a suicide bombing lies on a bench at a hospital in Jacobabad, Sindh province.

Karachi - Shia community demands greater government protection after the attack.

By Agencies

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Published: Sat 24 Oct 2015, 5:47 PM

Last updated: Sat 24 Oct 2015, 7:57 PM

The death toll from a suspected suicide blast which targeted Shias in the southern Pakistani city of Jacobabad has risen to 24, a provincial minister said on Saturday.
The officials had earlier confirmed that at least 16 people were killed and many more injured in the attack outside the residence of a local Shia leader, which came as devotees were setting off towards a main procession in the city.
Jam Mehtab Dahar, provincial minister for health in the southern province of Sindh where the attack took place, said more wounded people had succumbed to their injuries.
"The death toll has risen to 24 now," Dahar said, adding that two of at least 20 wounded were still in a critical condition.
Regional police chief Sain Rakhio Mirani said that at least six of the victims were children.
Mirani also said that "initial evidence" suggested a suicide bomber was responsible for the blast.
Meanwhile, Pakistani Shias rallied on Saturday to demand greater government protection after the attack.
The attack sparked Shias' anger at the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for failing to protect citizens. On Friday in Jacobabad after the bombing, angry Shias ransacked local government offices.
Shia community leader Syed Hamid Ali Shah Moosavi called for mourners to participate peacefully in Saturday's funeral processions, and demanded that the government provide greater protection and arrest those responsible for the bombings.
Pakistan is on high alert and has deployed some 10,000 troops and 6,000 paramilitary members to prevent sectarian violence during the mourning days of Ashura, a flashpoint in previous years.


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