MULTAN – At least three people were killed and 50 others wounded after a bomb hit a procession taken out on Youme-e-Ashur in Bahawalnagar, a city in central Pakistan.
Punjab Home Minister Raja Basharat Ali told a media outlet that a man hurled a grenade at a procession passing by Jamia Masjid in Muhajir Colony in the city, adding that the attacker had been arrested by security officials.
He said that injured persons have been shifted to Bahawalpur Victoria Hospital for treatment, adding that Rangers have also been deployed in the area.
Videos circulating on social media show law enforcement and rescue officials rushing toward the site of the explosion.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar chaired a high-level meeting in Lahore and sought a detailed report from the Counter Terrorism Department.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has strongly condemned the incident of attack on Ashura procession in Bahawalnagar.
He described the incident as a failed attempt to trigger sectarianism and creating disturbance in the county.
The foreign minister said that the whole nation was united against terrorism and stood behind the country’s armed forces and the law enforcement institutions.
“Such cowardly acts cannot deter our courage and resolve,” he maintained.
Authorities across the country took strict security measures for the Ashura processions taken out to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussain on Muharram 10.
