Bahawalnagar: 3 dead, over 50 injured as bomb hits Ashura march

On Thursday, in Bahawalnagar, Punjab district, a bomb ripped through a Muharram procession and killed three people and injured over 50 people.

Security was high across Pakistan on the 10th of Muharram, as Youm-e-Ashur, is being observed with due solemnity to pay respect to the supreme sacrifice rendered by Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) and his companions at Karbala.

A senior government official said, “We have confirmation of three dead and 50 injured from the blast at the procession site,”

A video on social media showed bleeding victims lying on the street and aided by the public.

A local police officer, Kashif Hussain, confirmed the death toll.

He said, “The nature of the explosion is not yet clear as a team is still collecting evidence from the scene,”

As a security measure during Ashura processions, authorities have postponed mobile phone services in major cities.

In many urban centres residents were facing signal blockage, and the roads leading to procession routes were also blocked.

According to the officials, the procession was resumed later and the public was allowed to continue with their ceremonies.

Punjab Law Minister, Raja Basharat, tweeted that the Police Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) has been ordered to submit a report of the blast incident after finalizing a combing operation and examination.

In the meantime, Punjab Chief Minister, Usman Buzdar visited Safe City Authority headquarters and revised the security preparations for Ashura processions and was informed about the tragic blast incident in Bahawalnagar.

CM also expressed grief over the bomb blast incident and directed the police chief to submit a report after finalizing the inquiry of the incident.