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At least 27 killed in Pakistan violence
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-10 09:02
A suicide bomber struck Thursday in Pakistan on the holiest festival for
Shiite Muslims, triggering a riot that left a provincial town in flames and at
least 27 people dead and more than 50 wounded.
After the bombing, which appeared to be a sectarian attack, security forces
battled enraged worshippers who torched shops and cars and took up positions on
hills overlooking Hangu, where the sound of gunfire echoed through the smoky
streets.
In neighboring Afghanistan, hundreds of Shiites and Sunnis clashed in the
western city of Herat, hurling grenades and burning mosques. At least five
people were killed and 51 wounded.
The Shiites were marking Ashoura, when they pound their chests and flail
their backs with chains and blades to mourn the 7th-century death of Imam
Hussain, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. Hussain's death fueled a rivalry
between Shiites and Sunnis over who should succeed the prophet.
A soldier of the Pakistani paramilitary force
stands guard near shops set on fire by an angry mob after a suicide
bombing on a Shiite procession in Ustarzai near Hangu, Pakistan, Thursday,
Feb. 9, 2006.[AP] | In Iraq, tens of thousands of Iraqis marched and beat themselves in
blood-soaked processions through the holy city of Karbala, but no
holiday-related violence was reported amid tight security to prevent Sunni Arabs
from attacking the event, as they have the previous two years, killing more than
230 people.
Sectarian attacks have also often marred the annual rite in Pakistan, but
rarely in Afghanistan. Two years ago, a suicide attack on a Shiite procession by
Sunni militants in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta killed 44 people.
Pakistan declared a curfew and deployed its army to restore order in Hangu, a
market town of about 200,000 people.
District police chief Ayub Khan said 23 people died in the bombing and riots
that followed. Three other three men and a woman died in a separate shooting on
a minibus on the outskirts of town, according to a commander of the paramilitary
Frontier Constabulary, Aziz ur-Rahman. Security officials said Shiites
protesting the bombing had blocked a road and fired on the vehicle.
Akram Durrani, the top elected official in the province, said a preliminary
investigation showed the attack in Hangu was a suicide bombing, but he gave no
further details.
Witnesses said a procession of about 300 people in black mourning clothing
had come out of the Imam Barga Quami, a Shiite mosque, at about 9:45 a.m. and
were passing the town bazaar when the explosion went off.
"The procession started and we were beating our chests. All of a sudden there
was an explosion in the procession," said Asar Hussain, 45, who suffered
shrapnel wounds to his torso, head and legs. He believed it was a suicide attack
but did not see the bomber.
Vegetable vendor Mohammed Jamil said panic followed.
"Some people rushed to the injured and dead bodies, others went to houses and
took out weapons and knives and kerosene oil and started setting fire to shops,
destroying everything," he said.
An Associated Press reporter who evaded police roadblocks to enter Hangu saw
most of the bazaar destroyed, some shops still in flames and thick smoke
drifting through the streets. Soldiers patrolled the streets, some in armored
personnel carriers.
There was an occasional sound of gunfire, and sometimes the boom of heavier
weapons, as troops fired at protesters who took up positions on hilltops
surrounding the town.
"Curfew has been imposed. People should stay in their houses and not come
out," a police officer announced through a loudspeaker mounted on a van in
Hangu.
Helicopters landed at a police training college in the town and took 27 of
the more than 50 wounded away for treatment at an army base.
In Afghanistan, where like Pakistan, about 80 percent of the population are
Sunnis and most of the rest Shiites, sectarian violence swept through Herat.
The fighting followed three days of rioting in Afghanistan over cartoons of
the Prophet Muhammad published in Europe. Those riots left 11 dead.
Thursday's violence in Afghanistan began after 300 Sunnis threw stones at a
Shiite mosque, said Ismatullah Mohammed, a senior police officer. Shiites
retaliated by attacking a camp for displaced people. Violence spread, with both
sides throwing grenades, burning about a dozen cars and two mosques, he said.
Mohammed said Islamic extremists were suspected of inciting the violence, and
security forces fanned out across Herat, blocking roads into the city amid
reports hundreds of young men were coming from outlying areas to join the
fighting.
Dr Barakatullah Mohammedi at Herat Hospital said at least five people were
killed and 51 wounded.
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