QUETTA, Pakistan — A bombing Friday at a mosque in the Pakistani city of Quetta, the capital of restive Baluchistan province, killed two people, including the prayer leader, and wounded 28 worshippers, officials said.

The blast took place at the mosque in the city's Pashtoonabad neighborhood during Friday prayers, according to Abdul Razzak Cheema, deputy inspector of police.

The bomb was set off remotely, said Cheema, adding that a bomb squad was dispatched to the site and was investigating. The bomb squad said 2.5 kilograms of explosive material was used in the devise that blew out windows in the building and partially destroyed the ceiling.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing but it appeared that the prayer leader was the target. Saleem Abro, from Quetta's main civilian hospital, said 28 people were wounded.

Sectarian violence, mostly targeting Pakistan's minority Shiite Muslims, has left hundreds dead in recent years in Baluchistan. However, the Pashtoonabad neighborhood in Quetta is a Sunni majority area and the mosque was attended by Sunni Muslims.

Militant groups belonging to both sects operate in the area. Baluchistan is also plagued by insurgency by secessionist groups seeking more autonomy or independence for the province. </s> QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - A bomb at a mosque in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday killed two worshippers and wounded 14, officials said.

The blast went off at the Sunni Muslim mosque when people were offering Friday prayers.

“There were about 100 people there when a bomb exploded very close to the prayer leader,” said police officer Abdul Qayum.

There was no claim of responsibility.

Quetta is the capital Baluchistan province which has been plagued for decades by a separatist insurgency. The separatists usually attack energy infrastructure and the security forces.

Sunni Muslim militants also operate in the province. They usually attack government targets and members of the Shi’ite Muslim minority.

Police said they were investigating. </s> QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - A bomb at a mosque in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday killed two worshippers and wounded 14, officials said.

The blast went off at the Sunni Muslim mosque when people were offering Friday prayers.

"There were about 100 people there when a bomb exploded very close to the prayer leader," said police officer Abdul Qayum.

There was no claim of responsibility.

Quetta is the capital Baluchistan province which has been plagued for decades by a separatist insurgency. The separatists usually attack energy infrastructure and the security forces.

Sunni Muslim militants also operate in the province. They usually attack government targets and members of the Shi'ite Muslim minority.

Police said they were investigating. </s> A bomb at a mosque in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday killed two worshippers and wounded 14, officials said.

The blast went off at the Sunni Muslim mosque when people were offering Friday prayers.

“There were about 100 people there when a bomb exploded very close to the prayer leader,” said police officer Abdul Qayum.

There was no claim of responsibility.

Quetta is the capital Baluchistan province which has been plagued for decades by a separatist insurgency. The separatists usually attack energy infrastructure and the security forces.

Sunni Muslim militants also operate in the province. They usually attack government targets and members of the Shi’ite Muslim minority.

Police said they were investigating. </s> QUETTA, Pakistan, May 24 (Reuters) - A bomb at a mosque in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday killed two worshippers and wounded 14, officials said.

The blast went off at the Sunni Muslim mosque when people were offering Friday prayers.

"There were about 100 people there when a bomb exploded very close to the prayer leader," said police officer Abdul Qayum.

There was no claim of responsibility.

Quetta is the capital Baluchistan province which has been plagued for decades by a separatist insurgency. The separatists usually attack energy infrastructure and the security forces.

Sunni Muslim militants also operate in the province. They usually attack government targets and members of the Shi'ite Muslim minority.

Police said they were investigating. </s> Islamabad, Pakistan - At least three people have been killed and 28 wounded after a bomb exploded at a mosque in the western Pakistani city of Quetta.

The explosion took place inside a mosque before Friday prayers, city Police Chief Abdul Razzaq Cheema told Al Jazeera by phone, adding that at least three of the wounded were in critical condition.

Local police official Tauseef Farman told Al Jazeera an explosive device went off next to the prayer leader, who was among those killed.

The area was cordoned off by security forces shortly after the explosion, and a bomb disposal unit was conducting investigations, Cheema said.

Video footage from the scene showed debris from the blast strewn within the mosque, with ceiling tiles lying smashed on the floor.

Regular violence

Quetta is the capital of Balochistan, Pakistan's largest and least populated province; it is also rich in mineral and fuel resources.

It has seen regular violence in recent years, with attacks claimed by Baloch separatists, Pakistan Taliban and local affiliates of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) group.

The province has been at the centre of a series of recent attacks that have killed at least 10 people.

Last week, at least four policemen died when their vehicles were targeted by an explosion as they stood guard outside a mosque during evening prayers.

On May 12, Baloch separatist attackers stormed a five-star hotel in the southern port city of Gwadar, killing at least five people, including a Navy soldier.

Pakistani security forces engaged in an hours-long gun battle with the attackers, with the siege ending after three attackers were killed.

Balochistan is seeing a number of new infrastructure projects erected, including the port at Gwadar, as part of the $60bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, a joint venture between the Pakistani and Chinese governments. </s> At least two people dead, 15 others injured in bombing at Friday prayers

At least two people were killed and 15 others injured following an explosion at a mosque in Quetta’s Pashtunabad locality during Friday prayers.

The exact nature of the attack targeting the Rehmania mosque is still being investigated, police said, with local media reporting that security forces had cordoned off the area. Radio Pakistan has reported that the blast appeared to have been caused by an improvised explosive device planted near the mosque’s pulpit, but there has been no independent verification of this.

“Three of the injured are in a critical condition including the prayer leader as the blast occurred near him,” Quetta’s police chief Abdur Razzaq Cheema told AFP.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast yet, which comes nearly two weeks after separatists attacked the Pearl Continental Hotel in Gwadar, killing five people.

Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani has condemned the blast and ordered a probe into the incident.

Editor’s Note: This story is still developing and will be updated as more information becomes available </s> QUETTA, Pakistan — A suicide bomber targeted an open-air market in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday, killing at least 20 people and wounding dozens of others, police and hospital officials said.

Shortly after the bombing, struck near a Shiite residential area, dozens of angry Shiite youths rallied in Quetta, demanding more security from the authorities and the arrest of those behind the attacks.

They also denounced the violence by Sunni extremists who have killed hundreds in similar attacks over the past years in Baluchistan province, where Quetta is the capital.

“It seems people from the (Shiite) Hazara community were the target,” said senior police chief Abdur Razzaq Cheema.

Mir Ziaullah Langau, the provincial home minister, said the suicide bomber had walked up to the marketplace and killed both Shiites and Sunnis.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place in the Hazarganji neighborhood, but Sunni militant groups have claimed similar bombings in the past against Shiites, whom they view as apostates deserving of death.

Cheema, the police chief, said at least eight Shiites were among the dead, as well as a paramilitary soldier and seven other people. Four paramilitary troops, who were guarding the open-air fruit and vegetable market, were among the wounded.

Qadir Nayil, a leader of the Hazara community, asked the government to provide better protection for the Shiites.

“Once again our people were the target and once again we will have to bury our dear ones,” he said. “We demand more security from the government and all those involved in today’s act of terrorism should be found and punished.”

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Arif Alvi issued statements condemning the attack and adding that it would not weaken “the resolve of the nation in the fight against terrorism.”

Jam Kamal Khan, the chief minister of Baluchistan province, also condemned the attack, saying “the enemy of humanity” is to blame.

Hours after the attack in Quetta, a roadside bomb exploded outside a shop in the southwestern border town of Chama, killing one person and wounding 10 others, police and hospitals officials said.

Several militant groups operate in Baluchistan, which is also the scene of a low-level insurgency by separatists demanding more autonomy and a greater share in the region’s natural resources such as gas and oil. </s> QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) – An explosion claimed by militant group Islamic State ripped through a Muslim shrine in southwestern Pakistan yesterday, killing at least 52 people and wounding scores, officials said.

The blast at the Shah Noorani shrine occurred while hundreds of people were inside, local district commissioner Hashim Ghalzai told Reuters.

Provincial Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said 52 people were killed and that more than 105, including many women and children, were wounded.

“Every day, around sunset, there is a dhamaal (ritual dance) here, and there are large numbers of people who come for this,” said Nawaz Ali, the shrine’s custodian.

The shrine is located in Baluchistan province about 100 km (60 miles) north of the port city of Karachi, to where rescue official Hakeem Nasi told Geo TV dozens of wounded were being moved.

The government dispatched 25 ambulances from the nearby town of Hub to the shrine, said Akbar Harifal, provincial home secretary for Baluchistan. The army was called in to assist with rescue operations, given the remoteness of the site, Bugti said.

It was not clear whether the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber or a planted device, according to Bugti.

The province has seen some of the worst militant attacks this year in Pakistan.

Islamic State said in a statement via its Amaq news agency that its fighters had carried out yesterday’s bombing.

The jihadist group also claimed responsibility for the last major attack in the province, at a police academy last month, that killed around 60 people.

Muslim shrines have often been targeted by militant groups, many of whom adhere to a strict interpretation of Islam that regards veneration of saints at shrines such as Shah Noorani as heresy.

Baluchistan is also a key link in a $46 billion transport and trade corridor between Pakistan and China, which hinges on a deep-water port in the southwestern city of Gwadar.
A bombing at a mosque in the Pakistani city of Quetta, the capital of the restive province of Balochistan, kills three people, including the prayer leader, and wounds at least 28 worshippers.