Islamabad, May 24: A powerful explosion ripped through a mosque ahead of Friday prayers in Pakistan, killing at least three persons and injuring 28 others in the restive Balochistan province, police said.
The blast, triggered through an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), targeted the Rehmania Mosque in Pashtunabad area of the provincial capital Quetta, they said.
No group has claimed responsibility of the attack.
"Three people, including the prayer leader, died in the blast while 28 other worshipers were injured," Balochistan Deputy Inspector General of Police Abdul Razzaq Cheema said, adding the blast occurred just before the Friday prayers started.
The injured were shifted to Civil Hospital Quetta.
President Dr Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the terrorist attack in Quetta.
Alvi expressed deep grief and sorrow over the loss of precious lives and prayed for the early recuperation of those injured in the incident.
Prime Minister Khan directed the authorities concerned to provide best medical treatment facilities to them.
A security official said that the death toll could rise as it was a powerful explosion.
Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani condemned the blast and summoned a report on the incident. He expressed grief over the deaths and multiple injuries caused by the blast.
The blast came days after terrorists attacked the Pearl Continental luxury hotel in the port city of Gwadar in Balochistan, killing at least eight persons, including four civilians and a Pakistan Navy soldier.
Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, is Pakistan's largest and poorest province, rife with ethnic, sectarian and separatist insurgencies.
At least 20 people were killed and 48 others injured last month in a blast at a fruit and vegetable market in Quetta's Hazarganji area. The attack was claimed by the ISIS terror group.
On April 18, unidentified gunmen donning uniforms of paramilitary soldiers massacred at least 14 passengers, including Pakistan Navy personnel, after forcing them to disembark from buses on a highway in Balochistan.
China is investing heavily in Balochistan under the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The CPEC, launched in 2015, is a planned network of roads, railways and energy projects linking China's resource-rich Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region with Pakistan's strategic Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea.
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Bengaluru, Mar 29: Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Friday said there are no leaders other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah who can solve all the problems at the national level.
At the same time, the JD(S) patriarch underlined the need for better coordination between his party and BJP to achieve the target of winning all the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka.
JD(S) joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in September last year. As part of the seat-sharing deal in the State, BJP will contest in 25 constituencies and the JD(S) in three.
Noting that the role of former Chief Minister and BJP stalwart B S Yediyurappa was very important, Gowda said he must forget whatever had happened in the past "because the time is very short".
"Our opponents are so strong. Don't think that we are going to win all the 28 seats unless and until we forget what all had happened in the past and our differences," the 91-year-old said at a coordination meeting of the two parties here.
Stating that "other than Modi there is no leader in this country", Gowda said he knows each and every corner of the nation having served the country as Prime Minister for a decade.
"Only Modi and Shah are the two leaders who can solve all the problems at the national level," the nonagenarian leader said.
Gowda cautioned the BJP and JD(S) leaders against taking the Congress lightly as, he claimed, the Mallikarjun Kharge-led outfit has "huge financial resources."
"In the present Congress government (in Karnataka), money reserve is one of the major areas for them. Can you challenge? Entire Bengaluru and every department are in the hands of one leader. It is not easy to challenge the Congress resources. Not so simple," he said.
According to Gowda, no one knows how much money has been pumped in by the Congress in Mandya from where his son and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy is contesting as the BJP-JD(S) alliance candidate.
"Today this so-called Congress is only in four states and the money has to be supplied from Karnataka. The president of AICC (Kharge) is from Karnataka. Please understand. It is not so easy (to win the election)," he said.
To highlight the "resource mobilisation" by the Congress in the Lok Sabha election, Gowda said never ever in the history of Karnataka 94 MLAs are holding the position of cabinet rank (including by way of holding positions as chairpersons of various state-owned boards and corporations.)
He also lashed out at Siddaramaiah for his statement "where is JD(S) in the state?"
"I will prove that 91-year-old Deve Gowda has the strength to demonstrate where the JD(S) is. I will not be scared. I don't have any fear," he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Yediyurappa expressed confidence that the BJP-JD(S) alliance will win all the 28 seats.
Yediyurappa also hit out at the Congress government for allegedly stopping all the development works.
"There is nothing much to say about this government. People have lost their trust in it. Its coffers are empty and development works have come to a halt," he added.