|
Mosque ripped by bomb during packed service { October 1 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/01/international/asia/01CND-STAN.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/01/international/asia/01CND-STAN.html
October 1, 2004
Pakistani Mosque Ripped by Bomb During Packed Service
By SALMAN MASOOD
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Oct. 1 — A powerful suicide bomb ripped through a Shiite mosque in the eastern city of Sialkot today, killing at least 23 worshipers and wounding more than 60, Pakistani officials said.
Hospital workers said they had counted 27 dead and warned that the toll could rise still higher if more victims succumbed to their injuries.
The attack came as President Pervez Musharraf returned from a visit to United Nations headquarters in New York and several European countries. It also came less than a week since Pakistani law enforcement agents shot to death Amjad Hussain Farooqi, who had been sought as a top terror suspect and operative for Al Qaeda.
President Musharraf issued a statement condemning the attack and promising no compromise in his campaign to rid the country of extremism and sectarian violence. "Terrorists have no religion and are enemies of mankind," he said.
No one took responsibility for today's suicide bombing, but Pakistani officials speculated that the attack could have been linked to the Farooqi killing last Sunday in southern Pakistan.
"Maybe, after the killing of Amjad Farooqi, this is an act of retaliation," Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said by telephone this evening. "But let's see. No one has claimed responsibility yet. Investigations are under way."
Mr. Farooqi was accused of masterminding the two assassination attempts on the life of General Musharraf last December and was also believed to have been involved in the murder of the American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.
President Musharraf, a staunch ally of President Bush's, has vowed to root out Islamic militancy from the country and has banned several extremist groups. On his orders, the Pakistan Army has been trying to flush out Al Qaeda suspects and sympathizers in the semiautonomous northwestern tribal areas straddling the border with Afghanistan.
The Pakistani authorities, fearing a militant backlash, put the country on high alert after Mr. Farooqi's killing and they arrested at least 15 terror suspects in operations around the country.
Pakistani analysts said the terror attack today could have been planned to disrupt and destabilize the government and demonstrate the tenacity of extremists and their ability to strike back.
The suicide bombing, in the Zainabia mosque, in the Rangpura neighborhood of Sialkot, took place at 1:30 p.m., as worshipers were listening to the Friday sermon.
The police said hundreds were in the mosque at the time of the blast, which shattered windows, damaged walls and carved a two-foot-deep crater in the floor. Body parts were strewn about, according to early reports.
A bomb disposal squad also defused a 12.5-kilogram (5.68-pound) bomb found at the scene and recovered three electronic detonators, two nine-volt batteries and 60 feet of detonating cord, the police said.
Television showed images of injured worshipers, burned and scarred by shrapnel, being ferried to hospitals in ambulances and private vehicles.
The eastern industrial city of Sialkot, in Punjab Province, some 105 miles southeast of here, is famous for its exporting of sporting goods, leather garments and surgical and musical instruments. Residents describe it as a tolerant city where Muslims of both Sunni and Shiite sects live in harmony.
"The Friday bomb blast comes as a shock to the residents," Khawaja Muhammad Asif, a member of the Parliament from Sialkot, said. "This is the first incident of its kind here."
After the blast, protesters clashed with police officers across the city, setting one police van on fire and refusing to let police officials enter the mosque after the explosion, according to reports from Sialkot. Army troops were eventually called out to help quell the disturbances.
More than 50 people were killed in suicide attacks on Shiite mosques in the southern port city of Karachi during May alone, and tensions among Shiites have been running high.
Shiites make up about 20 percent of Pakistan's population, with Sunnis constituting 77 percent. Although they are in the minority, Shiites in Pakistan are concentrated in urban areas and have a disproportionately large presence in government.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
|
|
