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Car Bomb Kills 40 at Pakistan Religious Rally
By Asim Tanveer
MULTAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - At least 40 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in Pakistan on Thursday when a car bomb exploded at a rally to commemorate an assassinated militant religious leader, police said.
The bomb exploded in a crowd of mourners leaving the overnight rally attended by several thousand people in the central city of Multan to mark the first anniversary of the shooting of militant Sunni Muslim leader Azam Tariq.
"It was dark and people were screaming for help," said one witness. "It was utter chaos."
The attack came just days after a suicide bomber killed 30 people at a minority Shi'ite Muslim mosque in the eastern city of Sialkot on Oct. 2 and Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said it could have been a sectarian act of revenge.
But in apparent bid to head off a spiral of revenge attacks, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao called the attack an act of terrorism with "no relevance to the sectarian divide."
"I do not see the involvement on any religious group," he said in a statement
Abdul Jalil Naqvi, a leader of the main Shi'ite militant group, the banned Islami Tehrik Pakistan, denied charges by Tariq's group that it was a Shi'ite attack. He called it a terrorist act aimed at inciting sectarian war.
"We condemn it," he said.
The rally had ended and people were dispersing in pre-dawn darkness from a meeting ground when the bomb went off, said Sikander Hayat, police chief in Multan, 425 km (250 miles) southwest of the capital, Islamabad.
Large patches of blood stained the ground and pieces of flesh lay scattered around. Nearby houses and shops were damaged.
Hospital officials said at least 40 people were killed and more than 100 wounded, 30 of them seriously.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz convened an emergency meeting and Interior Minister Sherpao said he would propose a ban on large religious gatherings.
President Pervez Musharraf said in a statement the incident "clearly shows that terrorists have no religion and are enemies of mankind."
TROOPS DEPLOYED
Troops were deployed in the streets after about 3,000 Sunni protesters gathered outside the main Nishtar hospital to collect bodies for burial and chanted slogans against Shi'ites and Musharraf. "Infidels, infidels, Shia infidels!" they shouted.
Most of the casualties were followers of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (Soldiers of Mohammad's Companions), an outlawed Sunni group that Tariq headed and which has been blamed for many bloody attacks on Shi'ites, who make up about 15 percent of Pakistan's mainly Sunni population of 150 million.
The bomb was probably detonated by remote control, police chief Hayat told Reuters. He earlier said the attack appeared to have been a suicide bombing.
One of the wounded, Qari Hafeez, speaking from his hospital bed, said the car had been driven into the crowd.
"When we came out of the rally at around 4:30 in the morning, a car came at us with its lights on. It hit the people and exploded. After that, I don't know what happened."
Sipah-e-Sahaba was one of seven militant groups outlawed by Musharraf after he joined the U.S.-led war on terror following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Like other such organizations, it took another name after being banned -- Millat-e-Islamia (Islamic Nation).
The leader of the renamed group, Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, blamed Shi'ite radicals for the blast.
He appealed to his followers to remain calm. But addressing thousands gathered to offer funeral prayers, he demanded that the government track down those responsible within a week or he would call for a march on Islamabad.
Hundreds have died in violence between majority Sunnis and Shi'ites in Pakistan in recent years and the Multan area has been a hotbed of such sectarian attacks.
Tariq, who was a member of parliament, was among five people killed in an attack on his car on Oct. 6 last year on the outskirts of Islamabad. A Shi'ite political leader was arrested in connection with the attack, but has since been freed on bail. (Additional reporting by Tahir Ikram, David Brunnstrom and Zeeshan Haider in ISLAMABAD)
By Asim Tanveer
MULTAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - At least 40 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in Pakistan on Thursday when a car bomb exploded at a rally to commemorate an assassinated militant religious leader, police said.
The bomb exploded in a crowd of mourners leaving the overnight rally attended by several thousand people in the central city of Multan to mark the first anniversary of the shooting of militant Sunni Muslim leader Azam Tariq.
"It was dark and people were screaming for help," said one witness. "It was utter chaos."
The attack came just days after a suicide bomber killed 30 people at a minority Shi'ite Muslim mosque in the eastern city of Sialkot on Oct. 2 and Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said it could have been a sectarian act of revenge.
But in apparent bid to head off a spiral of revenge attacks, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao called the attack an act of terrorism with "no relevance to the sectarian divide."
"I do not see the involvement on any religious group," he said in a statement
Abdul Jalil Naqvi, a leader of the main Shi'ite militant group, the banned Islami Tehrik Pakistan, denied charges by Tariq's group that it was a Shi'ite attack. He called it a terrorist act aimed at inciting sectarian war.
"We condemn it," he said.
The rally had ended and people were dispersing in pre-dawn darkness from a meeting ground when the bomb went off, said Sikander Hayat, police chief in Multan, 425 km (250 miles) southwest of the capital, Islamabad.
Large patches of blood stained the ground and pieces of flesh lay scattered around. Nearby houses and shops were damaged.
Hospital officials said at least 40 people were killed and more than 100 wounded, 30 of them seriously.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz convened an emergency meeting and Interior Minister Sherpao said he would propose a ban on large religious gatherings.
President Pervez Musharraf said in a statement the incident "clearly shows that terrorists have no religion and are enemies of mankind."
TROOPS DEPLOYED
Troops were deployed in the streets after about 3,000 Sunni protesters gathered outside the main Nishtar hospital to collect bodies for burial and chanted slogans against Shi'ites and Musharraf. "Infidels, infidels, Shia infidels!" they shouted.
Most of the casualties were followers of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (Soldiers of Mohammad's Companions), an outlawed Sunni group that Tariq headed and which has been blamed for many bloody attacks on Shi'ites, who make up about 15 percent of Pakistan's mainly Sunni population of 150 million.
The bomb was probably detonated by remote control, police chief Hayat told Reuters. He earlier said the attack appeared to have been a suicide bombing.
One of the wounded, Qari Hafeez, speaking from his hospital bed, said the car had been driven into the crowd.
"When we came out of the rally at around 4:30 in the morning, a car came at us with its lights on. It hit the people and exploded. After that, I don't know what happened."
Sipah-e-Sahaba was one of seven militant groups outlawed by Musharraf after he joined the U.S.-led war on terror following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Like other such organizations, it took another name after being banned -- Millat-e-Islamia (Islamic Nation).
The leader of the renamed group, Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, blamed Shi'ite radicals for the blast.
He appealed to his followers to remain calm. But addressing thousands gathered to offer funeral prayers, he demanded that the government track down those responsible within a week or he would call for a march on Islamabad.
Hundreds have died in violence between majority Sunnis and Shi'ites in Pakistan in recent years and the Multan area has been a hotbed of such sectarian attacks.
Tariq, who was a member of parliament, was among five people killed in an attack on his car on Oct. 6 last year on the outskirts of Islamabad. A Shi'ite political leader was arrested in connection with the attack, but has since been freed on bail. (Additional reporting by Tahir Ikram, David Brunnstrom and Zeeshan Haider in ISLAMABAD)
