QUETTA: At least 23 Shia pilgrims were killed and several others injured in suicide attacks and firing at two hotels in Taftan, a town near the border with Iran, some 700km southwest of Quetta, on Sunday night.

“At least five suicide bombers attacked two hotels where pilgrims were staying,” Kambar Dashti, Commissioner of Quetta division, told Dawn.

He said security forces launched an operation soon after the attacks and killed a man who also appeared to be on a suicide mission.

“Twenty-three bodies have been found so far in the hotels,” a senior security official said, adding that a number of injured people were brought to the basic health centre in Taftan.

Helicopters were sent to Taftan to airlift the injured to CMH, Quetta. Frontier Corps, TAF and Levies personnel reached the place and started taking action against the terrorists who had taken position in and around the hotels.

“Firing continued in the area,” official sources said, adding that more FC troops deployed in nearby areas reached Taftan.

The sources said that about 300 pilgrims, including women and children, had arrived in Taftan by buses from Iran. They were staying in the two hotels located near the Pak-Iran border.

The official sources, quoting eyewitness, said that suicide bombers had entered Al-Murtaza and Al-Hashmi hotels at around 11pm. One of them blew himself up in Al-Murtaza Hotel and soon after another suicide bomber blew himself up at the main door of Al-Hashmi Hotel.

After the two suicide attacks, armed men barged into Al-Murtaza Hotel and started firing with automatic weapons.

At the same time another group of armed men entered Al-Hashmi Hotel and started firing. In the meantime, another two blasts took place near the hotels.

“Twenty-two bodies have so far been recovered from Al-Murtaza Hotel and one body and two injured from the other hotel,” Mr Dashti said.

Three legs and body parts of the suicide bombers were found outside Al-Hashmi Hotel and some limbs from Al-Murtaza Hotel.

The sources said that the main target was Al-Murtaza Hotel. “Most of deaths took place in Al-Murtaza Hotel,” eyewitness Murtaza, who is a Levies official, said. The roof of the hotel has collapsed.

He said that soon after the attack Levies force reached the area and went into action.

“Levies men killed one suicide bomber who could not blow himself up due to immediate action taken by security forces,” Balochistan Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani told Dawn.

He said that FC’s quick response force and Levies had reached the area and taken action against terrorists.

The sources said that about 197 pilgrims staying in Al-Murtaza Hotel belonged to Toori tribe.

According to reports reaching here from Taftan, the exchange of fire was continuing in and around the hotels till late night. Security forces have cleared the first floor of Al-Murtaza Hotel, while a search operation was continuing in both the hotels.

Heavy contingents of FC and Levies force were deployed at a place where the remaining pilgrims have been brought.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2014