Several martyred, many injured in huge blast in Shia Hazara Town Quetta

Several Shia Muslims were martyred and many injured in a powerful explosion in Quetta’s Shia Hazara Town area on Saturday night. The blast occurred in Aliabad area near Imam Khomeini Hospital.
Police said the explosion took place close to a girls’ high school in Aliabad area of Hazara Town, a locality populated mainly by the Hazara Shia Muslims who have been targeted by extremist militant groups.
“Several people are injured as result of blast,” a police officer requesting anonymity said in first information. The injured were being rushed to the Bolan Medical Complex Hospital and Combined Military Hospital (CMH) for medical treatment.
The powerful blast was heard far and wide, causing panic among the people. Rescue workers rushed towards the spot of explosion to shift the injured to hospitals.
The blast was followed by aerial firing in the area and shopkeepers pulled down their shutters in panic.
“There was a crowd of people when the bomb went off,” said the police official.
A huge contingent of police and Frontier Corps (FC) personnel reached the spot to cordon off the area.
Shia parties and leaders have condemned the blast saying that Ramzan Mengal Group of proscribed ASWJ (Sipah-e-Sahaba), the notorious terrorist outfit, was mastermind of Shia genocide in Quetta. They demanded his public hanging.