Bomb attack at a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Pakistan

Pakistan President Vows to Punish Blast Culprits Fri July 4, 2003 06:39 AM ET PARIS (Reuters) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Friday vowed strong action against the authors of a bomb attack at a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Pakistan, but said he did not know who the culprits were. At least eight people were killed and more than 20 injured in the explosion during Friday prayers at the mosque in the southwestern city of Quetta.

"I don't know the details of this explosion or who did it," Musharraf told reporters in Paris.

"As I have always been saying, it is unfortunate that some elements in Pakistan are undermining what Pakistan stands for. It is unfortunate that this small minority are able to derail or undermine national feelings," Musharraf said.

Pakistan Mosque Suicide Bombing Kills 32
Fri July 4, 2003 10:41 AM ET

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suicide bombing of a packed Shi'ite mosque in southwestern Pakistan killed at least 32 people and wounded 40 during Friday prayers in the worst such attack in recent years.
At least one suicide bomber blew himself up in the mosque in the center of the city of Quetta, near the Afghan border.

A senior city official in Quetta said the death toll had risen to 32, after Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed had earlier told Reuters that more than 20 people were dead.

Another 40 were injured in the raid, which sparked angry protests among Shi'ite Muslim Hazaras.

President Pervez Musharraf, in Paris on an official visit, condemned the violence and vowed to punish the perpetrators.

Khadim Hussain, a Hazara Shi'ite from Quetta, said he counted 24 bodies in the hospital morgue, including those of three children.

Witness accounts varied.

Khan Ali, 60, who was slightly injured in the attack, said he was praying at the mosque at the time.

"I saw bodies blown into pieces," he told Reuters.

Mahmood Hussain, who was also in the mosque, said two bearded men fired on worshippers before a third person blew himself up.

Another witness recalled seeing two suicide bombers enter the mosque before setting off explosives, while the information minister said there were three attackers.

Two suicide bombers died instantly while a third later died of his wounds, according to Ahmed.

The attack happened at Quetta's main Shi'ite mosque, raising suspicions that the motive was sectarian. Violence between the Sunni and minority Shi'ite sects of Islam has erupted in Pakistan this year after a relative lull during 2002.

Angry crowds of Hazara Shi'ites, some of them armed and firing shots into the air, took to the streets and gathered outside the hospital where the bodies and casualties were taken.

Vehicles, shops and a wing of the hospital were set ablaze and the army was called in to control the situation. Crowds began to disperse after paramilitary troops used loudspeakers to announce a curfew.

MUSHARRAF VOWS ACTION

Musharraf condemned the killings.

"We have to act very strong against them," he told reporters.

"As I have always been saying, it is unfortunate that some elements in Pakistan are undermining what Pakistan stands for. It is unfortunate that this small minority are able to derail or undermine national feelings."

The attack will come as an embarrassment for the military leader, who used his trip to Europe to calm investor fears about security in Pakistan following a spate of attacks on Western and Christian targets last year based on Islamic militants.

They have abated, but sectarian violence is on the rise.

In the southern port city of Karachi in February, nine Shi'ites were shot dead outside a mosque by gunmen on motorcycles. Days later, two more Shi'ites were killed.

Less than a month ago, 11 police recruits were killed and nine wounded when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in Quetta. All were from the Hazara tribe, which is Shi'ite.

The Quetta mosque attack overshadowed protests in major Pakistani cities called by the Islamic coalition critical of the pro-military government and Musharraf's sweeping powers.

Leaders of the bloc called on supporters to take to the streets in protest over the disqualification of a parliamentarian on the grounds that he did not hold a university degree.

But only a few hundred people gathered in support of protest, carrying placards with anti-American and anti-Musharraf slogans.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.