Blast inside seminary kills 14 in SW Pakistan

KARACHI, Pakistan

At least 14 people, including a senior police official, were killed in anexplosion that took place inside a religious seminary in southwest Pakistan on Friday evening, officials and local media reported.

The blast occurred inside a seminary located in southern outskirts of Quetta -- the capital of southwestern Balochistan province -- during sunset prayer, Mir Zia Langov, provincial home minister, told Anadolu Agency.

Some 19 people were also injured in the blast, second in the past two days in the city. Two people were killed and over a dozen others injured in an improvised explosive device blast at a busy market on Wednesday.

According to Langov, the nature of the blast is yet to be known, however, he suspected that it was the act of a suicide bomber.

“I cannot confirm that [the nature of the blast], but I suspect it was a suicide attack”, he said.

The deceased included a deputy superintendent of police.

There was no immediate word of responsibility for the attack.

Footage aired on local broadcaster Geo News showed broken glasses, caps, blood-soaked pieces of clothes, and other belongings scattered across the floor of the seminary's prayer hall.

Health officials fear a rise in the death toll as condition of various injured was stated to be critical.

The large Balochistan province, which is also considered to cover parts of neighboring Iran and Afghanistan, is strategically important due to the rich presence of copper, zinc and natural gas.

The province has been beset by violence for over six decades, with separatists claiming it was forcibly incorporated into Pakistan upon the end of British rule in 1947.

Balochistan, which makes up 42 percent of Pakistan, is a key route to the $64 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which aims to connect China's strategically important northwestern Xinxiang province to the port of Gawadar through a network of roads, railways and pipelines to transport cargo, oil, and gas.

The economic corridor will not only provide China cheaper access to Africa and the Middle East but will also earn Pakistan billions of dollars for providing transit facilities to the world’s second-largest economy.