QUETTA, Aug 14: A bomb ripped through a two-storey restaurant building in Dera Allahyar town, about 300 kilometres from here, on Sunday, killing 14 people and injuring 33 others.

The Baloch Liberation Tigers, a new outfit, claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Miran Baloch, a spokesman for the organisation, told media that his organisation had carried out the bombing in Dera Allahyar restaurant.

“A bomb was planted inside the two-storey building of the restaurant, which was destroyed by the powerful explosion,” police officials said.

Sources said that a large number of people were sitting in two halls of the Sultan restaurant, on the Quetta-Jacobabad section of the National Highway in Dera Allahyar town, when the bomb exploded, destroying the entire building and also damaging some nearby buildings.

The blast was so powerful that it rocked the entire town.

“Five people were killed on the spot while nine others died in the district hospital,” District Police Officer JavedGharsheen told Dawn.

“Bodies of some victims were torn into pieces and their limbs were found 200 metres away from the restaurant,” Nawaz Magsi, a witness, told Dawn by telephone.

The sources said that an unknown man had placed a bag inside the restaurant and then left the building. Ten minutes after he left the premises, the bomb exploded.

Experts of the bomb disposal squad visited the explosion site and collected evidence.

“Around 35 to 40 kg of explosives were used in the restaurant bombing,” they said, adding that most of the people died after being hit by splinters.

Hospital sources confirmed 14 deaths and said that of the 33 injured people, 15 people with serious injuries were taken to hospitals in Larkana and Jacobabad.

The victims were identified as Somer, Rasool Bakhsh Umrani, Arshad Solangi, Khalid Hussain, Ejaz Solangi, Abdul Qadoos Marri, Nihal Khan Bugti, Sanaullah Khosa, Pervez Khosa, Nisar Khosa, Syed Miran Bakhsh Shah and Elahi BakhshSoomro. Two victims remained unidentified till late in the night.

Security was tightened in the area soon after the blast and law-enforcement agencies defused another bomb planted near the main gas pipeline in the area.