QUETTA: A bomb blast targeting a convoy of Deputy Chairman Senate Abdul Ghafoor Haideri killed at least 25 people and wounded more than 37 others in Mastung district, around 40 km (25 miles) south of Quetta.
The blast went off when convoy of Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri was passing by a mosque after Friday prayers. He was immediately moved to Combined Military Hospital, Quetta after the blast.
Survivors, several covered in blood, were picking up body parts that lay scattered in the road among vehicles twisted by the blast.
“I am alive, Allah has saved my life, it was a sudden blast, broken pieces of the windscreen hit me, I am injured but safe. The driver and other people sitting next to me were badly injured,” said Haideri. But latest reports suggest that the Senator’s driver had been killed in the blast.
The blast also damaged a number of vehicles parked on the road causing panic in the area.
Paramilitary troops and a bomb disposal squad were deployed outside a nearby madrassa where the convoy had been headed for a graduation ceremony.
JUI-F leader Ismail Buledi said that Maulana Haideri sustained minor injuries in the blast. All the injured persons were rushed to District Hospital Mastung.
Later speaking to ARY News via telephone, Maulana Haideri said that around 20 to 25 people had been martyred while many others were injured. He confirmed that he had suffered minor injuries.
He feared that casualties could soar in the attack as, according to him, the blast was very powerful.
Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri has also taken notice of the incident and directed authorities concerned to submit a detailed report in this regard.
WATCH: Maulana Haideri speaks to media after the blast
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