Thousands attend Karachi victims' funeral prayers

Описание: (15 Aug 2021) Thousands of people attended the funeral prayers for the victims of a grenade attack on a truck carrying women and children in Karachi, Pakistan, on Sunday.
Attackers targeted the truck on Saturday evening as it shuttled an extended family from a wedding ceremony in a western Karachi neighbourhood, killing nine people and wounding nine others.
The leader of the local branch of the Islamist Jamaat e Islami party attended the funeral prayers condemning the "brutal killing" and demanding the immediate arrest of "those who killed the innocents."
Thirteen coffins were present during the funeral prayers, following reports that some of the injured had died during treatment.
Raja Umar Khitab, a counterterrorism officer, claimed investigators have found pieces of a Russian made hand grenade from the scene near Mawach Goth.
He told a local television station that evidence collected suggested culprits were chasing the truck from and threw the grenade in the truck crowded by women and children.
Javed Akbar Riaz, a senior police officer, said more than 20 women and young children from an extended family were riding in the truck, returning from a wedding ceremony when the attack happened.
No one has yet claimed the responsibility for the attack.
The motive for the bombing was not known, though police were quick to rule out sectarian violence.
Also amid celebration of the Independence Day across the country, militants attacked a security patrol in the restive southwestern Baluchistan province, triggering a shootout that left three militants and a soldier dead near Shahrig in the Loralai district.
In a brief statement, the military said there was an exchange of gunfire after militants opened fire on a security vehicle and that two soldiers were also wounded during the exchange.
No one claimed responsibility for that attack, but Baluch separatist groups have often claimed such attacks in recent years.
Baluchistan has been the scene of frequent militant attacks and a long-running insurgency by groups seeking independence for the mineral- and gas-rich province bordering Iran and Afghanistan.
The Pakistani Taliban also have a presence there.

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