Pakistani Taleban 'proud' to murder 50 Shi'ites in bid to divide and rule

Published on Friday 3 September 2010 15:53

A TALEBAN suicide bombing killed more than 50 Shi'ite Muslims during a procession in Pakistan's southwest yesterday.

• Pakistani injured blast victims and dead bodies are seen at the site of a suicide bomb attack in Quetta. Pic AFP/Getty

The attack came amid a surge in violence following the country's battering by massive floods.

In the northwest, US missile strikes killed at least seven people in an area controlled by one of the main groups battling Nato forces in neighbouring Afghanistan, Pakistan intelligence officials claimed.

Two other militant bombings left at least two people dead and several wounded on a day of bloodshed that threatens to destabilise Pakistan's weak civilian government, seen as an essential western ally in the fight against Islamic extremism.

The first attack of the day was a roadside bombing in the northwest city of Peshawar that killed one police officer and wounded three others, officials said.

Hours later, a suicide attack on a mosque belonging to the minority Ahmadi sect killed at least one person and wounded several others in the nearby town of Mardan.

Soon after, a blast killed at least 50 people in the southwestern city of Quetta at a Shi'ite procession calling for solidarity with Palestinians, Quetta police chief Ghulam Shabir Sheikh said. He said 78 people were wounded and several were in critical condition.

Pakistani Taleban commander Qari Hussain Mehsud said one of his suicide bombers had carried out the attack.

"We proudly take its responsibility," he said. "Our war is against America and Pakistan security forces, but Shi'ites are also our target because they too are our enemies."

He also threatened attacks in the US and Europe in the coming days.

The Taleban-allied Haqqani network controls the northwest tribal area of North Waziristan along the Afghan border but its fighters are hunted by US drone aircraft that regularly unleash missile attacks. Two Pakistani intelligence officials said three missiles hit a house in a village near Miran Shah, the main North Waziristan town, on Friday evening.

The officials said the identity of those killed was not yet known, but added that a second US missile strike had killed two people, thought to be foreign militants, in the North Waziristan village of Datta Khel.The attack in Quetta was the week's second claimed by the Pakistani Taleban and targeting Shi'ites, who make up about 20 per cent of the population in the mostly Sunni Muslim country.

A triple suicide attack Wednesday night killed 35 people at a Shi'ite ceremony in the eastern city of Lahore.

Shi'ite leader Allama Abbas Kumaili said the attacks were a result of government failure and appealed for peace.

"We understand these are attempts to set Sunni and Shi'ite sects against each other," he said. "Our government concentrates all its efforts to secure VIPs. Common men are not their priority."

Government officials have said they cannot protect outdoor gatherings from attacks, and, earlier this week, interior minister Rehman Malik called for Shi'ites to hold religious ceremonies indoors.

Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, has been described by western officials as a base for the leadership of the Afghan Taleban but attacking there would be an expansion of the range of the Pakistan Taleban. The Pakistani group is hoping to overthrow the country's government as it seeks to recover from the flooding that has caused massive displacement, suffering and economic damage.

The floods, following heavy rains weeks ago, have killed more than 1,600 people and affected about 20 million in a country of 150m. Floodwaters are still swamping rich agricultural land in the southern provinces of Sindh and Punjab.

Flood victims say they have received little government help, and most assistance has come to them from private charities. The International Committee of the Red Cross warned this week that survivors' anger was beginning to hamper aid efforts.

About 500 survivors blocked a key road in the Sindh town of Gharo yesterday to protest at the lack of food and drinking water.