(Al Jazeera Media Network) More than 50 people were killed and many injured in bomb attacks in two Pakistan provinces, officials have said.
In the southwestern province of Balochistan, a powerful bomb exploded on Friday near a mosque in Mastung city, where people were gathering to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.
Video footage shared on social media showed a large number of people, including many children, standing near the mosque before the bomb blast ripped through the crowd.
No one has claimed responsibility, officials in Mastung said, adding that the blast was caused by suicide bombers.
Mastung police official Javed Lehri told Al Jazeera that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an outlawed group also known as Pakistan Taliban, claimed it had “nothing to do with the attack.”
“No other group has so far claimed responsibility,” he said, adding that the celebration was organised by two local religious parties.
Saeed Mirwani, chief executive of the Shaheed Nawab Ghous Bakhsh Raisani Memorial Hospital in Mastung, said that 52 people died in the explosion.
Second attack
Later in the day, at least five people died and more than 10 were injured after two attackers in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa attempted to enter a police station in Hangu city, Fazal Akbar, a city official, told local media.
Police fired upon the attackers and they fled toward a nearby mosque, Akbar said.
“One of them blew himself up at the gate, but the second one managed to enter the mosque. Thankfully, most of the people in the mosque managed to escape due to the first blast, which is why our casualty count was less,” he said.
