Quetta, April 16 (Inditop.com) At least 10 people, including a police officer and a TV cameraman, were killed when a suicide explosion ripped through a hospital in this southwestern Pakistani city Friday, triggering firing between the police and unknown suspects.
Fifteen people, including a member of parliament, were wounded.
A suicide bomber detonated himself outside the emergency ward of the Civil Hospital in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, Online news agency quoted police sources as saying.
The explosion took place as people had gathered at the hospital, located in a high security area, to protest the target killing of a bank manager, Arshad Zaidi, earlier Friday morning. Zaidi, was shot at near Mannan Chowk and he was brought to Civil Hospital at Jinnah Road. He succumbed to the gunshot wounds.
The emergency room was full of the bank manager’s friends and relatives when the bomber detonated his weapons at the gate.
After the explosion, the sources said, an exchange of fire took place between police and unknown suspects, adding that the exchange lasted for a few minutes.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Zahir Shah Kazmi, TV cameraman Malik Arif and and a Federal Investigation Agency official who was not identified were amongst the dead. Nasir Ali Shah, a Pakistan Peoples Party member of National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, was among the injured.
The cameraman was working for the Samaa private TV channel. He was among the media persons at the hospital covering the aftermath of the bank manager’s killing.
Panic gripped the city after the explosion and relatives of patients gathered outside.
Television footage showed the badly damaged emergency ward, with the windows of several vehicles and ambulances shattered.
