Asia

Asia

49 killed in Pakistan suicide bombing

03 September 2010 16:46 (UTC +04:00)

The blast took place at about 3:00 pm when an estimated 2000 people gathered in Quetta’s Meezan Chowk to mark solidarity with the Palestinian people on Al-Quds Day. The rally was organized by the Shia Imamia Students Organization. Every year, on the last Friday of the month of Ramadan, rallies take place across Pakistan, to support the Palestinian demand for a homeland. After the blast, the mourners turned violent and armed people resorted to aerial firing which continued for some two hours.

Television footage showed smoke billowing into the air on a chaotic street with people fleeing and others lying prone next to motorcycles, taking cover from gunfire. The injured were rushed to civil and police hospitals, Quetta.

The attack came two days after triple suicide bombings, targeting a Shia procession, killed 39 people and wounded more than 200 others in Lahore. The Shia community was observing the death anniversary of Hazrat Ali, Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law.

According to media reports, Punjab-based terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi which claimed responsibility of the Lahore attack also accepted that they carried out the Quetta blast.

A day earlier, Interior Minister Rehman Malik warned of possible suicide attacks on religio us gatherings and called Shia Muslims to hold their religious ceremonies indoors.

The police chief of Baluchistan, Malik Iqbal told media that they warned organizers of the ceremony to stick inside a cordoned off area after intelligence officials received reports about a possible terror attack.

Shia leader Allama Abbas Kumaili appealed the people to stay calm, "We understand that these are attempts to bring Sunni and Shia sects against each other," he told a Pakistani TV channel. Kumaili said the attacks against minority sects were a result of government failure.

The Quetta blast was one of three attacks reported in Pakistan on the final Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan.