Shi'ite fury after triple bombing in Pakistan

Thousands of Shia Muslims, thumping their chests and crying, mourned yesterday at funeral prayers for victims of a triple bombing that heaped more tragedy on Pakistan, already struggling to cope with devastating floods.

The blasts that targeted a Shi'ite ceremony late Wednesday in this eastern city were the first major attacks since floods tore through the country over the past month, destroying or damaging more than one million homes and prompting a major international relief effort.

The Pakistan Taleban claimed responsibility for the attacks in a phone call to the press. The member of the group said it was in revenge for the alleged killings by Shi'ites of members of a Sunni extremist ally of the group, Sipah-e-Sahaba.

US president Barack Obama's administration on Wednesday added the Pakistani Taleban to its international terrorism blacklist and charged its leader with planning a suicide bombing in Afghanistan last year that killed seven CIA employees. The group has also been blamed for the failed car bombing in New York's Times Square.

At least 35 people were killed and 250 wounded in the attacks on a street procession marking the death anniversary of Caliph Ali, one of Shi'ite Islam's most respected holy men. Two of the blasts were apparently suicide bombs.

Afterward, crowds torched a police station and vehicles. Authorities deployed paramilitary forces to restore order.

The bodies of eight victims - included a young child - were prayed over in a public park not far from the scene of the bombings.

Security was tight, with police frisking mourners. Their families then took them to be buried.