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Hospital suicide bombing kills 10 in Pakistani city of Quetta
A SUICIDE bomber blew himself up in the main hospital in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta today, killing 10 people and triggering chaos and panic on the wards.Police said it appeared to be a sectarian attack linked to the nearby shooting of a Shi'ite banker whose body had been brought to the hospital shortly before the bomb blast. Quetta, capital of insurgency-hit southwestern Baluchistan province, has seen frequent violence pitting militants from the majority Sunni and minority Shi'ite communities. City police chief Ghulam Shabbir Sheikh put the death toll at 10, including four policemen and a cameraman with a private television station. More than 30 people were wounded, including at least four journalists and a local MP. "It appears to be sectarian violence," provincial police chief Qazi Abdul Wahid said. Brilliant, chief, brilliant. How do you do it? The victim of the shooting was Arshad Zaidi, the son of a local Shi'ite community leader, who was sprayed with bullets by gunmen on a motorbike as he left the bank. "Hundreds of people including a local MP and dozens of journalists rushed to the hospital where the body was lying. As the crowd swelled at the casualty ward a suicide bomber blew himself up," crime investigation department chief Wazir Khan Nasir said. The blast spread panic through the hospital and send shards of glass flying, while witnesses said the walls of the casualty ward were spattered with blood stains and pieces of human flesh. "We have found legs and head from the blast site. We have also found metal pellets, usually stuffed in suicide vests, from the blast site," police officer Mohammad Iqbal said. Mr Nasir said the bomber had used between 5 to 8kg of explosives. Posted by: tipper 2010-04-16 |
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