A rchive Date
[ 09-02-2006 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Pakistan ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2006/02/09/1432449-ap.html
Bomber hits Shiite Muslim procession
By RIAZ KHAN
February 9, 2006
USTARZAI, Pakistan (AP) - A suicide bombing ripped through a Shiite Muslim procession Thursday in northwestern Pakistan, killing 22 people, injuring dozens and sparking riots during the Muslim sect's most important holiday, officials said.
Army troops took control of the area and a curfew was imposed as the Shiites vented their anger by burning shops and cars in Hangu, about 200 kilometres southwest of the capital, Islamabad, district police chief Ayub Khan said. "We thought the bomb was detonated by remote control, but now it appears to be a suicide attack," Khan said.
Ghani ur-Rehman, the top district administrator, said 22 people were reported killed and more than 50 injured. He said more than 60 per cent of the town bazaar had been burned down in the violence that followed the bombing.
Police mounted road blocks on the road to Hangu. An Associated Press reporter was barred from passing beyond Ustarzai, a town about 25 kilometres from the scene of the attack.
"We have orders that no one is allowed beyond this point," said Maqbali Khan, an officer commanding about 20 police at a barricade. He said that angry protesters in Hangu were burning vehicles. Ur-Rahman, however, said the situation was under control by early afternoon and Sunni and Shiite leaders were helping to calm the situation.
The explosion hit a procession of hundreds of people in a bazaar soon after it emerged from the main Shiite mosque in the mid morning, said a senior Interior Ministry official who asked not to be named because he's not authorized to speak to the media.
"The situation is very grave there. People are fighting. Police are trying to control them. Our priority is to get the injured to hospital, but angry and emotional processionists are attacking police vehicles and even ambulances," the Interior Ministry official said.
Sunni and Shiite clerics in Hangu used mosque loudspeakers to urge the faithful to calm down and avoid further violence, which could spread to other processions across Pakistan.
A prominent Shiite cleric, Allama Mehdi Najfi, in the southwestern city of Quetta told the AP, "This attack has spread anger among our people throughout the country, but I appeal them not to clash with any member of other sects."
The attack targeted Shiites observing Ashoura, the most revered religious holiday in their faith. The event marks the 7th century death of Imam Hussain, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. Hussain's death fuelled a rivalry between Shiites and Sunnis over who should succeed the prophet. During Ashoura, Shiites dressed in black weep, pound their chests and the flail their backs with chains and blades as they mourn Hussain's death.
Security was tight for the holiday because it has been marred by violence in recent years. Sunni Muslims - the majority in Pakistan - have been blamed for attacking the Shiites during the event, which involves religious processions across the country. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said, "I condemn this attack in the strongest terms. This is a conspiracy to trigger clashes between Sunnis and Shiites. No Muslim can do this thing. Whoever has done this thing is a terrorist."
Top officials of North West Frontier Province, including chief minister Akram Durrani and chiefs of police and paramilitary forces held an emergency meeting in the northwestern city of Peshawar on how to control the situation, a provincial official said on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to disclose it.
Sectarian attacks have plagued this Islamic country for years.
Last March, 46 died in a bombing against a Shiite shrine in southwestern town of Fatehpur. In March 2004, Sunni militants launched a suicide attack on an Ashoura procession of Shiites in the regional capital of Quetta, killing 44 people
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