According to the officials, this horrifying blast occurred just as the procession for Rabiul Awwal was about to commence, with the people gathered to celebrate the Birthday of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).

“The suicide bomber reached the site by foot and waited for the arrival of leaders who were leading the procession and soon after the arrival he blew himself up in the procession,” a senior official of the local administration said.

Among the victims of this attack were the local Ameer of Jamaat Ahal Sunnat Balochistan and the prayer leader of Madina Mosque Mastung, Mufti Saeed Ahmed Habibi, as well as DSP Muhammad Nawaz Gishkori. Tragically, a family also suffered immense loss, with a father and his two sons, along with a nephew, succumbing to the suicide attack.

Local accounts suggest that the actual death toll may exceed 70, as some of the bodies were taken away by their family members from the blast site and were not brought to any hospital.

People had gathered in an open area in front of the Madina Mosque since morning, bearing party flags. The leaders of the Jamaat had declared that the procession would commence at 11 a.m. The organizers were in the process of arranging people and vehicles for the procession when a suicide bomber infiltrated the gathering. Tragically, the bomber detonated explosives near the vehicle of DSP Mastung, who was overseeing security preparations.

As a result of the powerful blast over 30 people were killed on the spot while over 100 were injured. Police and personnel of other law enforcement agencies rushed to the explosion site soon after the incident along with rescue workers.” The bodies were mutilated as many were without heads,” Munir Ahmed Shahwani, a local resident of Mastung told the media who reached the spot soon after the explosion. He said people were lying in the pool of blood, bodies were speared at the explosion site and the injured were crying for help.

Assistant Commissioner Mastung Atta-ul-Munim, Rescue workers, police, and people who reached at the explosion site shifted the bodies and injured to the district hospital Mastung and Shaheed Nawab Ghous Bakhsh Raisani Memorial Hospital. “Initially we received 20 bodies and 30 injured in the district hospital,” District Health Officer Rasheed Ahmed Shahwani said while a large number of bodies and injured were shifted to Shaheed Nawab Raisani Hospital.

The Inspector General Police Balochistan Abdul Khaliq Sheikh said, “Our officer Nawaz Gishkori when saw the suicide bomber moving towards the procession tried to stop him after that the bomber detonated himself.” He said that a police officer sacrificed his life to save the lives of the people. “The casualty could be more if the bomber reached the middle of the procession,” IG Sheikh said. He said that there was no threat alert about such an attack. However, he said that an investigation had been started and soon the accused would be brought to justice. He said that three police personnel were also injured in the attack.

After initial treatment, almost all injured were sent to the Trauma Centre of Civil Hospital and Bolan Medical College Hospital Quetta.  The District Health Officer Mastung has confirmed 52 deaths on Friday while seven injured have succumbed to their injuries in civil hospital and BMC Quetta. “The death toll reached 59,” Dr. Wasim Baig, spokesman for the health department told the media, adding that the conditions of at least 6 injured are critical who have been shifted to CMH Quetta along with some other injured after the visit of Chief Minister Ali Mardan Domki and Corps Commander Lt. General Asif Ghafoor to the hospital. He said that 25 people who had received minor injuries were discharged from the hospital after necessary treatment.

“ We were listening to the word “ Qiyamat-e-Sughra” for long but witnessed in Mastung after the blast as bodies were on the ground without hands, legs and heads,” Sarfraz Ahmed, an eyewitness said in civil hospital Quetta. He said, “I was standing at some distance from the explosion site that is why remained safe but my other relatives were injured in the attack.”