On 10 January 2013, several

bombings A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanica ...

took place in the southwestern Pakistani city of

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in Geography of Pakistan, south-west of the country close to the ...

, the capital of

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

, killing a total of 130 people and injuring at least 270. The Quetta bombings led to protests by the city's

Shia Muslim Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...

Hazara community;

Prime Minister of Pakistan The prime minister of Pakistan ( ur, , romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen cabinet, despite the president of Paki ...

Raja Pervez Ashraf Raja Pervaiz Ashraf ( ur, ; born 26 December 1950) is a Pakistani politician, businessman and agriculturist who is the current Speaker of the National Assembly and a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from NA-58 (Rawalpindi-II). He ...

responded by dismissing the

Chief Minister of Balochistan The Chief Minister of Balochistan ( ur, وزیر اعلیٰ بلوچستان) is the head of government of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. The chief minister leads the legislative branch of the provincial government, and is elected by the ...

Aslam Raisani Muhammad Aslam Khan Raisani ( ur, ) (born 5 July 1955 in Sarawan, Balochistan) is a four times elected member of the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan who served as the Chief Minister of Balochistan from 9 April 2008 until 14 January 2013. ...

, and replacing him with Zulfikar Ali Magsi. On the same day, a bomb

explode An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Supersonic explosions created by high explosives are known ...

d in

Swat District Swat District (, ps, سوات ولسوالۍ, ) is a district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. With a population of 2,309,570 per the 2017 national census, Swat is the 15th-largest district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa prov ...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

, killing 22 people and injuring 60 others.

Background

Since the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

seizure An epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much of the body with los ...

Lal Masjid Lal Masjid or Red Mosque may refer to: * Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque, Pettah, Sri Lanka *Lal Masjid, Islamabad, Pakistan **Siege of Lal Masjid The siege of Lal Masjid ( ur, , code-named Operation Sunrise) was a confrontation in July 2007 between ...

in the national capital of

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...

, there has been a growing

insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregu ...

by the Islamist

Pakistani Taliban The Pakistani Taliban (), formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (Urdu/ ps, , lit=Student Movement of Pakistan, TTP), is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani bor ...

and others, especially in the

Federally Administered Tribal Areas , conventional_long_name = Federally Administered Tribal Areas , nation = Pakistan , subdivision = Autonomous territory , image_flag = Flag of FATA.svg , image_coat = File:Coat of arms ...

, bordering and resultant from

Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used synonymously by the U.S. government for both the War in Afghanistan (2001–2014) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response to the September 11 at ...

in Afghanistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Additionally, the

insurgency in Balochistan The Insurgency in Balochistan is an insurgency or revolt by Baloch nationalists against the governments of Pakistan and Iran in the Balochistan region, which covers the Balochistan Province in southwestern Pakistan, Sistan and Baluchestan Prov ...

, predominantly by the

Balochistan Liberation Army The Balochistan Liberation Army ( bal, بلۏچستان آجوییء لشکر; abbreviated BLA), also known as the Baloch Liberation Army, is a Baloch ethnonationalist militant organization based in Afghanistan. The BLA's first recorded activi ...

, had been ongoing prior to this period; while there has also been deadly

sectarianism in Pakistan Sectarian violence in Pakistan refers to attacks and counter-attacks against people and places in Pakistan motivated by antagonism toward the target's sect, usually a religious extremist group. Targets in Pakistan include the Shia, Barelvis, S ...

Bombings

Quetta

Three bombs exploded in the city of Quetta, one early in the day and two in the evening. The first bomb, which went off in the city's commercial district near a public plaza and crowded food markets, killed twelve people and injured 47; a Baloch separatist group, the

United Baloch Army United Baloch Army (UBA; ) was a militant group, fighting for the separation of Balochistan. The group has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the Pakistani government. The government of Pakistan banned the group on 15 March 2013. The g ...

, claimed responsibility. Police official Hamid Shakil said that "

Frontier Corps The Frontier Corps ( ur, , reporting name: FC), are a group of paramilitary forces of Pakistan, operating in the provinces of Balochistan (Pakistan), Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to maintain law and order while overseeing the country's ...

personnel were the target because the bomb was planted underneath their vehicle," though mostly civilians were killed. The deadliest attack came later in the day, when a

suicide bomb A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

er blew himself up inside a

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

hall at about 8:50 pm, followed about ten minutes later by a

car bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roughly divided ...

ing outside the building after police and media personnel had arrived at the scene. 130 people were killed in the two bombings, with at least 270 more injured. At least three more died at hospitals after the bombings, bringing the total death toll to 110. By mid-day on 11 January, the death toll had risen to 112, and by the end of 13 January it had reached 126. In addition to those at the hall at the time of the first bombing, nine policemen, 25 rescue workers and three

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

s who had arrived at the scene were killed in the second blast. According to local bomb disposal officials, the suicide bomb had up to of explosives, while the car bomb had about . The hall was completely destroyed, and surrounding buildings were damaged in the blasts, which also destroyed power lines, causing blackouts in the surrounding area.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ; ur, ) or "Army of Jhangvi", is a Deobandi Sunni supremacist, terrorist and jihadist militant organisation based in Afghanistan. The organisation operates in Pakistan and Afghanistan and is an offshoot of anti-Shia ...

, a Sunni Deobandi militant group, claimed responsibility for this attack. A government official said that the bombings were likely Lashkar-e-Jhangvi's retaliation for the shooting of a Sunni

cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

and the capture of weapons from a site believed to be controlled by the group, both of which had occurred the day before. The Balochistan provincial government said that it would pay two million

rupees Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...

to the family of each policeman killed, while families of the others killed would receive one million rupees. Three days of mourning were announced for Balochistan in response to the bombings.

Journalists killed in the attack

The bombing was responsible for the first deaths of journalists in Pakistan in 2013. Pakistan has ranked among the deadliest of countries for journalists over the past several years, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Three journalists were killed and at least two other journalists were seriously injured by the second blast in Quetta. Two were from

SAMAA TV Samaa TV ( ur, سماء) is a Pakistani Urdu language news channel owned by Aleem Khan. It is the fourth-largest news channel in Pakistan with a market share of 7 percent. The word 'Samaa' ("سما") is Urdu for 'sky' or 'heaven'. It is broadcas ...

: Imran Sheikh had been a camera operator for five years and the third camera operator for the channel who was killed while covering a bombing incident; and Saifur Rehman was a reporter. Also killed in the attack was Iqbal Hussain, who was a journalist from the news agency News Network International. Rehman died later at a hospital from his injuries, while the other two died on site. At least two other journalists suffered from more than minor injuries, including Jameel Ahmed, the engineer for

Samaa TV Samaa TV ( ur, سماء) is a Pakistani Urdu language news channel owned by Aleem Khan. It is the fourth-largest news channel in Pakistan with a market share of 7 percent. The word 'Samaa' ("سما") is Urdu for 'sky' or 'heaven'. It is broadcas ...

, and Mohammad Hasan, a

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

for Independent News Pakistan.

Swat Valley

On 10 January 2013, an explosion in a

Tableeghi Jamaat Tablighi Jamaat (, also translated as "propagation party" or "preaching party") is a transnational Deobandi Islamic missionary movement that focuses on exhorting Muslims to be more religiously observant and encouraging fellow members to ...

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

in the Swat Valley, outside of

Saidu Sharif Saidū Sharīf (Pashto/Urdu: ) is the capital of Swat District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The city also serves as the capital city of Malakand Division. It was named after Saidu Baba, a prominent leader of the former Yusufza ...

, killed 30 people, with 70 injured. The explosion was initially reported to be the result of a

gas leak A gas leak refers to a leak of natural gas or another gaseous product from a pipeline or other containment into any area where the gas should not be present. Gas leaks can be hazardous to health as well as the environment. Even a small leak into ...

in the building's basement, but police and medical officials said it had likely been a bomb—doctors said that victims had been injured by

ball bearing A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races. The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this ...

s, often used in bombs, and according to a senior doctor there was a "smell of explosives".

Reactions

Protests in Quetta by the city's Shia community erupted the day after the bombings, with protesters and local Shia officials refusing to bury those killed until the Pakistani army took control of security in the city. Protests also broke out over the weekend of 12–13 January in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

and ten other smaller cities around the country. On 13 January, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf visited protesters in Quetta and agreed to dismiss provincial government officials, though he refused to implement military control in the city. Early on 14 January, he announced that Balochistan Chief Minister

and his cabinet had been removed from their posts, with Zulfikar Ali Magsi appointed to lead the provincial government. In response, Quetta Shias agreed to end their protests and begin burials later in the day.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pakistan bombings, January 2013 2013 murders in Pakistan January bombings 2013 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 2010s crimes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 2010s crimes in Quetta January 2013 bombings Attacks on buildings and structures in 2013 Attacks on buildings and structures in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Attacks on buildings and structures in Quetta January 2013 Improvised explosive device bombings in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Insurgency in Balochistan Islamic terrorist incidents in 2013 January 2013 crimes in Asia January 2013 events in Pakistan Lashkar-e-Jhangvi attacks Mass murder in 2013 Mass murder in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mass murder in Quetta Suicide bombings in 2013 Suicide bombings in Quetta Swat District January bombings January 2013 bombings January 2013 bombings Building bombings in Pakistan