Posted on 01/15/2004 10:03:03 AM PST by milestogo
Car bomb hits Christian Bible society in Pakistan
The Associated Press
The attack in the southern port city of Karachi occurred after police received an anonymous phone warning that the Pakistan Bible Society would be targeted, said police operations chief Tariq Jameel. Shortly after officers arrived, he said, assailants in a car drove up and lobbed a small explosive device at them before fleeing.
Fifteen minutes later, a bomb hidden in a nearby parked car exploded, Jameel said. Twelve people, including six police and paramilitary officers, were injured, said Seemi Jamali, a doctor at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, where many victims were taken.
At least 10 nearby cars were destroyed in the attack. TV footage showed twisted metal and shattered glass littering the street. Firefighters doused the burning cars as thick black smoke billowed into the air in the upscale central Karachi area near many of the city's top hotels.
"We were investigating the first explosion when the second explosion occurred. It was a sudden and huge explosion," said Mohammed Iqbal, a deputy superintendent of the Rangers, a paramilitary force. Iqbal spoke to The Associated Press from his hospital bed, where he was treated for shrapnel wounds to his right arm, neck and chest.
Salim Khursheed Khokhar, a local Christian leader, said two workers at the Bible center were injured by flying glass and the wall of the nearby Trinity Church was badly damaged.
Shahbaz Bhatti, the head of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, said the attack had raised concerns across the country.
"This terrorist act has increased the sense of insecurity among Christians. We are shocked, grieved and worried," he said. "These people are hell bent on creating anarchy in the country."
Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and its industrial and manufacturing heart, has been the site of several terrorist attacks in recent years, as well as bouts of sectarian and political violence.
In June 2002, a suicide bomber blew up a truck in front of the U.S. Consulate, killing 14 Pakistanis. The attack came a month after another suicide attack outside a hotel that killed 11 French engineers.
In September 2002, seven people were killed when gunmen burst into a Christian society in Karachi called the Institute of Peace and Justice, tied up everyone inside and shot them execution-style.
There have been a series of smaller blasts as well, including a July explosion in a building that killed two, and small explosions at 18 Shell gas stations in May that wounded four employees. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks.
In eastern Pakistan, meanwhile, police arrested 15 suspected members of an outlawed Islamic sectarian group for allegedly trying to reorganize, an official said Thursday.
The men were picked up in three separate raids Wednesday in Ghaziabad, an eastern residential neighborhood of Lahore, the capital of Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, said Usman Anwar, a police superintendent in Lahore.
Four assault rifles and other weapons were found in the raids, he said.
The arrested men belong to Sipah-e-Sahaba, an organization of extremist Sunni Muslims, said Anwar. The group is blamed for the killing of hundreds of Shiite Muslims in recent years.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf -- an ally of the United States in the war against terrorism -- banned Sipah-e-Sahaba along with several other militant groups in 2002 in a move aimed at purging the country of religious extremism.
They are being questioned for allegedly reviving a banned organization, a charge that can carry up to 10 years in prison upon conviction, he said.
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