HUB, NOV 13, (DNA):  At least 52 people including women and children were killed and more than 100 injured in a suicide blast in Shah Noorani shrine near Hub in Balochistan’s Lasbella district on Saturday evening, rescue sources told media.

Teams of medics and paramedics from Pakistan Army’s Medical Corps and Pakistan Rangers Sindh reached the site of the explosion and administered first aid to the wounded. The injured, after preliminary medical attention, were shifted to the nearest hospitals in Hub, Khuzdar and Lasbella and Civil Hospital in Karachi.

35 dead bodies have been transferred to Civil Hospital in Karachi, where emergency has been declared.

The shrine has been re-opened for the masses after preliminary rescue work.

According to sources, the attack was carried out by a young man who used ball bearings in the explosives for maximum damage. Difficult-to-access area

Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti said that the explosion took place when the devotees were engaged in dhamaal.

He said ambulances and rescue teams from Lasbela and Hub rushed to Shah Noorani, located about 200km away from Karachi.

“It takes some three hours from Hub to reach the Shah Noorani shrine which is located in a difficult mountainous area where mobile phone service also does not work”, he added.

He said helicopter ambulances could not be used because of darkness.

In-charge Edhi Foundation Lasbella Hakeem Lassi told media that more than 100 people were injured. He said that more than 10 ambulances of Edhi Foundation reached the blast site and rescue efforts were underway.

COAS orders max assistance for evacuation: DG ISPR

Director-General Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa on Twitter said that Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif has ordered maximum assistance for evacuation and on-spot medical treatment of the injured.=DNA

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