Six killed by blast at pro-Palestinian rally in southwest Pakistan

Author:

AFP

ID:

1621597008834622500

Fri, 2021-05-21 11:34

CHAMAN, Pakistan: A bomb blast Friday at a pro-Palestinian rally killed at least six people and injured 14 in a Pakistani city bordering Afghanistan, officials said, the latest violence to hit the restive area.
Senior local police official Ahmad Mohiuddin said explosives were packed into a motorbike parked near the vehicle of a religious leader taking part in the rally in Chaman, Balochistan province.
Pictures from the scene showed broken glass, rubble, and blood stains.
“It was an improvised explosive device which went off as participants began to disperse,” added Tariq Mengal, a senior local administration official.
No group has claimed responsibility.
Thousands of people rallied across Pakistan Friday in support of Palestinians, hours after a cease-fire was announced between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist group which governs the Gaza Strip.
The rallies followed Friday prayers which usually draw huge crowds to mosques where firebrand sermons have in the past catalyzed protests.
Demonstrators could be seen waving signs that said “Free Palestine,” while a major road connecting the capital Islamabad to the neighboring city Rawalpindi was blocked.
Friday’s Chaman blast comes just weeks after a suicide bombing in the Balochistan capital Quetta at a luxury hotel where the Chinese ambassador was being hosted.
That attack was claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.
Chaman has long served as a gateway for Afghan Taliban militants entering Afghanistan from their alleged shelters in Balochistan, where the group’s leadership council is believed to be based.
Pakistan is fighting several low-level insurgencies in the impoverished province, waged by Islamist, separatist and sectarian groups.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest and poorest province despite being rich in natural resources.
Resentment has been fueled by billions of dollars of Chinese money flowing into the region through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor — a key part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative — which locals say gave them little benefit as most new jobs went to outsiders.
The corridor seeks to connect China’s western province of Xinjiang with Gwadar, giving Beijing access to the Arabian Sea.