2023-09-30 17:13:42
The death toll from a major explosion in a mosque in Pakistan rose to 59 on Saturday, as the government pledged to arrest those involved and accused an Indian intelligence agency of involvement.
On Friday, an explosion rocked a mosque in Mastung in the southern province of Balochistan, following an attacker blew himself up near a police car where people were gathering in a procession to commemorate the Prophet’s birthday.
Officials in Pakistan have long said that India sponsors violent groups in their country, accusations that New Delhi has always denied.
“Civil, military and all other institutions will jointly carry out (an operation) once morest the elements involved in the Mastung suicide bombing,” Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti told media in the capital, Quetta.
“RAW was involved in the suicide attack,” he added, referring to the Research and Analysis Wing, an Indian intelligence agency. He did not provide details or any evidence of his involvement.
Neither the Indian Foreign Ministry nor the government spokesman have yet responded to requests for comment.
Waseem Baig, spokesman for the health sector in the Mastung bombing, said that seven others had died in the hospital since yesterday, Friday, raising the death toll. He added that a number of other injured people are still in critical condition.
Yesterday, a second attack on a mosque in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in the north of the country killed at least five people. On Saturday, the police began taking the necessary measures to investigate the incident, saying that they had sent the suicide attacker’s DNA for analysis.
No group claimed responsibility for either attack.
The Pakistani Taliban, which has carried out some of the most violent attacks inside the country since its founding in 2007, denied responsibility for carrying out the two bombings.
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