On 16 February 2013, at least 91 people were killed and 190 injured after a bomb hidden in a water tank exploded at a market in Hazara Town on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital city of Balochistan, Pakistan.
[1] Most of the victims were members of the predominantly Shia Twelver ethnic Hazara community, and authorities expected the death toll to rise due to the large number of serious injuries.
They are generally considered to have arisen from attempts by the then national leader, Zia ul-Haq, to legitimise his military dictatorship and from the influx of weapons into the country following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
According to Quetta's police chief Mir Zubai Mehmood, around 70–80 kg of explosives had been planted inside a water tank that had been installed on a tractor trailer.
Angry members of the Hazara minority set up roadblocks with burning tires and fired into the air in order to keep people away from the blast site in case of a second attack.
[15] Immediately after the attack, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf both released statements strongly condemning the bombing, while also vowing to go after the culprits.
[10] We demand that a special court be set up and the culprits be punished.During a Senate session in Islamabad, numerous lawmakers staged a walkout to protest the government's failure in addressing the "root causes" of terror.
[20] Political parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League (N), Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen among others raised the incompetency of the government and called for swift action to be taken.
[24] The Foreign Minister of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, also denounced the attack, and called it a "criminal act which only serves the interest of the enemies of the Pakistani nation.