KARACHI, Pakistan — Nearly half the top police commanders in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province died Thursday when insurgents shot and killed a police inspector, then bombed his funeral, where most of the province’s police commanders had gathered.
At least 30 people were reported dead and 40 wounded.
The attack in Quetta, Baluchistan’s capital, was claimed by Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, the formal name for the Pakistani Taliban.
The claim of responsibility called it revenge for a crackdown on Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an ally of al-Qaeda. But militants said they thought Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was the more likely suspect because the Pakistani Taliban lacked the local resources to launch any such operation in Quetta.
Authorities said the two-pronged assault began with the shooting of a police inspector who was out shopping with his family in preparation for the celebration Friday of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr, a holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
When colleagues converged on a mosque in the afternoon to participate in funeral prayers for their colleague, a suicide bomber struck. Among the dead was the province’s head of police operations and his command team. The provincial police chief and the chief of police for Quetta narrowly escaped.
