At Least 3 Killed, Scores Injured in Attack on Shiite Muslims in Pakistan (+Video)
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – At least three people were killed and 50 others injured in a bomb blast at an Ashura procession in the Bahawalnagar city of Punjab Province in Pakistan on Thursday, local media said.
A powerful roadside bomb exploded among a procession of Shiite Muslims in central Pakistan, killing at least three and wounding more than 50 people, local police said.
Videos circulating on social media showed police and ambulances rushing toward the site of the explosion.
Several wounded people were seen waiting for help along a road in the deeply conservative city of Bahawalnagar in the eastern Punjab province, where the attack took place.
City police officer Mohammad Asad and Shiite leader Khawar Shafqat confirmed the bombing.
Witnesses said tensions are now high in the city, with Shiite Muslims protesting against the attack and demanding retribution.
Shafqat said the explosion went off while the procession was passing through a congested neighborhood known as Muhajir Colony.
He condemned the attack and urged the government to further step up security at such processions, which are ongoing in other parts of the country as well.
Communications in the area were difficult, as authorities had suspended mobile phone service across the country a day ago ahead of the Shiite Ashura commemoration.
Ashura is the culmination of a 10-day annual mourning period in the lunar calendar month of Muharram for Imam Hussein (AS), who was martyred along with his 72 companions in the Battle of Karbala in southern Iraq in 680 AD after fighting courageously for justice against the much larger army of the Umayyad caliph, Yazid I.
The Muharram ceremonies symbolize the eternal and unwavering stance of truth against falsehood and humanity’s struggle against injustice, tyranny and oppression.
