AP Image
Karachi, Pakistan:
After a Shiite Muslim procession in Pakistan was bombed, the authorities appealed for calm as death toll increased to 40 on Tuesday.
A Shiite procession marking the key holy day of Ashoura was bombed on Monday which sparked riots as people rampaged through the city, setting fire to markets and stores.
Firefighters were still battling the flames on Tuesday, with authorities calling for reinforcements from the city of Hyderabad, 170 kilometers (105 miles) north of Karachi, Pakistan's main commercial hub.
Karachi Mayor Mustafa Kamal said the city's largest wholesale market was on fire, and that hundreds of shops had been destroyed, with damages estimated to run into millions of dollars.
Monday's bombing struck at the start of a procession of Shiites marking Ashoura, the most important day of a monthlong mourning period for the seventh-century death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein. Minority Shiites have suffered frequent attacks by Sunni extremist groups who regard them as heretical.
"I fell down when the bomb went off with a big bang," said Naseem Raza, a 26-year-old who was marching in the procession. "I saw walls stained with blood and splashed with human flesh."
Interior Minister Rehman Malik, who visited Karachi on Tuesday appealed for calm and appealed to the Shiite community to cancel processions for the next two days. "The investigation is still going on to determine whether it was a suicide attack or some improvised explosive device was used," , Malik said and ordered an investigation into who was behind the rioting.
"If anyone is trying to cripple Karachi, then he is also trying to cripple Pakistan," the minister said.
While it remains unclear who was behind Monday's bombing, Pakistani authorities say sectarian groups have teamed up with Taliban and al-Qaida militants waging war against the government. Malik pointed his finger at a cluster of militant groups, including the Pakistani Taliban, al-Qaida, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jaish-e-Mohammad, that he said have a joint goal to destabilize Pakistan. More than 500 people have been killed in attacks since mid-October when the army launched a major anti-Taliban offensive in the country's northwest.
Provincial Health Minister Sagheer Ahmed said the death toll from the attack increased to 40 on Tuesday after numerous severely wounded people died while hospitalized.
Karachi has largely been spared the Taliban-linked violence that has struck much of the rest of the country, a fact that analysts believe is driven by the group's tendency to use the teeming metropolis as a place to rest and raise money. But the city has been the scene of frequent sectarian, ethnic and political violence.
"A deliberate attempt seems to be afoot by the extremists to turn the fight against militants into a sectarian clash and make the people fight against one another," said President Asif Ali Zardari in a statement Monday.
Bomb disposal squad official Munir Sheikh said some 35 pounds (16 kilograms) of high explosive were used in the bombing. He said the intact head and torso of the suspected suicide bomber was found on the third floor of a nearby office building, where it had crashed through a window.
On Saturday, another blast near a Shiite procession wounded 19 people. Authorities attributed that explosion to a firecracker that was so powerful it left a crater in the road.
Monday's bombing was the third explosion in as many days to hit Karachi, although authorities attributed a blast that wounded 30 on Sunday to a buildup of gas in a sewage pipe. Protests broke out after that blast too, with Shiites torching at least three vehicles.
A Shiite procession marking the key holy day of Ashoura was bombed on Monday which sparked riots as people rampaged through the city, setting fire to markets and stores.
Firefighters were still battling the flames on Tuesday, with authorities calling for reinforcements from the city of Hyderabad, 170 kilometers (105 miles) north of Karachi, Pakistan's main commercial hub.
Karachi Mayor Mustafa Kamal said the city's largest wholesale market was on fire, and that hundreds of shops had been destroyed, with damages estimated to run into millions of dollars.
Monday's bombing struck at the start of a procession of Shiites marking Ashoura, the most important day of a monthlong mourning period for the seventh-century death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein. Minority Shiites have suffered frequent attacks by Sunni extremist groups who regard them as heretical.
"I fell down when the bomb went off with a big bang," said Naseem Raza, a 26-year-old who was marching in the procession. "I saw walls stained with blood and splashed with human flesh."
Interior Minister Rehman Malik, who visited Karachi on Tuesday appealed for calm and appealed to the Shiite community to cancel processions for the next two days. "The investigation is still going on to determine whether it was a suicide attack or some improvised explosive device was used," , Malik said and ordered an investigation into who was behind the rioting.
"If anyone is trying to cripple Karachi, then he is also trying to cripple Pakistan," the minister said.
While it remains unclear who was behind Monday's bombing, Pakistani authorities say sectarian groups have teamed up with Taliban and al-Qaida militants waging war against the government. Malik pointed his finger at a cluster of militant groups, including the Pakistani Taliban, al-Qaida, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jaish-e-Mohammad, that he said have a joint goal to destabilize Pakistan. More than 500 people have been killed in attacks since mid-October when the army launched a major anti-Taliban offensive in the country's northwest.
Provincial Health Minister Sagheer Ahmed said the death toll from the attack increased to 40 on Tuesday after numerous severely wounded people died while hospitalized.
Karachi has largely been spared the Taliban-linked violence that has struck much of the rest of the country, a fact that analysts believe is driven by the group's tendency to use the teeming metropolis as a place to rest and raise money. But the city has been the scene of frequent sectarian, ethnic and political violence.
"A deliberate attempt seems to be afoot by the extremists to turn the fight against militants into a sectarian clash and make the people fight against one another," said President Asif Ali Zardari in a statement Monday.
Bomb disposal squad official Munir Sheikh said some 35 pounds (16 kilograms) of high explosive were used in the bombing. He said the intact head and torso of the suspected suicide bomber was found on the third floor of a nearby office building, where it had crashed through a window.
On Saturday, another blast near a Shiite procession wounded 19 people. Authorities attributed that explosion to a firecracker that was so powerful it left a crater in the road.
Monday's bombing was the third explosion in as many days to hit Karachi, although authorities attributed a blast that wounded 30 on Sunday to a buildup of gas in a sewage pipe. Protests broke out after that blast too, with Shiites torching at least three vehicles.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
