QUETTA: The bodies of 29 victims, who were killed in a deadly suicide attack on a bus in Mastung, were laid to rest today, DawnNews reported.

Amidst strict security arrangements, the victims were buried in Bahisht-e-Zainab graveyard on Quetta's Alamdar Road and Bahisht-e-Zahra graveyard in Hazara Town.

A large number of women had also gathered to pay their respects to the deceased.

The funeral prayers for the victims had been offered in Quetta’s Punjabi Imambargah.

The burials come in hours after the Shia Hazara community agreed to end its protest sit-in after Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan assured them that strict action would be taken against elements that carried out the attack. The attack had been claimed by Lashkar-i-Jhangvi which also warned of more such attacks.

Hundreds of Hazara men, women and children had held a protest sit-in in the Quetta's Shuhada chowk for about 48 hours in extremely cold weather with sub-zero temperatures at night on Sunday.

Sit-ins and demonstrations had also been held in Karachi, Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi.

On Jan 21, 29 people were killed and dozens injured when a powerful explosion ripped through a bus carrying Shia pilgrims in Balochistan's militancy-hit Mastung district.

Security forces launch operation in Mastung; 25 detained

Meanwhile, security forces detained at least 25 suspected individuals during a full scale operation in Mastung's Kanak and Derringer areas today.

The operation was launched Friday morning by security forces which included personnel from the Frontier Corps, police, the Anti-Terrorist Force (ATF) and Levies and recruits from Balochistan Constabulary.

The forces are also being assisted by helicopters and armoured personnel carriers.

Meanwhile, the entry and exit points of Kanak and Derringer were sealed shortly before the search operation went underway.

The arrested suspects were shifted to Quetta.