QUETTA/MASTUNG: At least 35 people were killed, including a police officer, while over 40 sustained injuries in an explosion in Balochistan’s Mastung district on Friday — the second major blast in the same district in the same month.

An official said that the explosion took place near the mosque where people were gathering to mark Eid Miladun Nabi. 

Station House Officer (SHO) Javed Lehri said that the wounded are being shifted to a medical facility while an emergency has been imposed in the hospitals.

Mastung Assistant Commissioner Atta Ul Munim said that the explosion — which seems to be of a “massive” nature — took place near Madina Mosque. He said that the people had to participate in a procession later.

According to the district administration, Mastung’s Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Nawaz Gashkori is among the deceased.

“Some of the injured are in critical condition,” the administration added.

Earlier this month, a blast injured several people including Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) leader Hafiz Hamdullah in the same district. 

‘Wretched beasts’

Interim Sindh Chief Minister Maqbool Baqar condemned the blast, according to a statement from his spokesperson.

The chief minister, the statement read, said that those involved in taking the lives of innocent people are the “enemies of humanity”.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP) leader Maulana Owais Noorani said in a post on X — formerly known as Twitter — that he was deeply saddened to hear about the deaths and injuries.

The political leader, who served as a special assistant to the prime minister in the previous government, termed those involved in the blast as “wretched beasts”.