Saturday, February 6, 2010

Twin blasts in Karachi kills 25


: Two bomb blasts in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, apparently targeting Shia Muslims marking a
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religious ceremony, killed at
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least 25 people and injured about 80 others on Friday.
The first attack occurred when a motorcycle rigged with explosives targeted a bus carrying Shias to a religious procession on Shahrah-e-Faisal, the main road of the country’s commercial centre, killing 12 people and wounding close to 50 others. Among the dead were several children and women, said Dr Seemin Jamali, head of the emergency department at Jinnah Hospital in Karachi.
Two hours after the first explosion, as the wounded were being brought into Jinnah Hospital, a second blast shattered the emergency ward, killing at least 13 including those wounded in the first blast, along with doctors, paramedics and rescuers. It left 30 others injured. The second attack was also caused by an explosive-laden motorcycle in the hospital’s parking lot. A large number of relatives of the first blast victims were present at the time of the second explosion.
Panic and fear gripped the hospital after the explosion, affecting the paramedical staff and media persons and throwing rescue efforts out of gear. As the Jinnah hospital was sealed off, the injured from the two blasts were then rushed to Civil Hospital and other private hospitals of the city.
The bus attacked in the first explosion was carrying Shia Muslim mourners to participate in a religious procession to mark the end of the holy month of Muharram in Karachi, a city of 16 million people. Friday was the last and most important day of the Shia religious ritual. Shias in Pakistan are marking Arbaeen — the end of a 40-day mourning period for Imam Hussein, a grandson of Prophet Muhammad who was killed in a 7th Century battle in Karbala.
The bus was one of dozens used to transport Shias from across the city to a central procession. But the attacker on Friday chose a different target, away from the security cordon. The motorcycle which rammed into the bus was completely destroyed, said police officer Shahid Hasan.
City police chief Waseem Ahmad told reporters that the motorcycle was rigged with an improvised-explosive device. It remained unclear whether the motorcycle was being driven by anyone when it struck the bus. Karachi has had a history of violence for the past two decades. Other than ethnic and political tensions, sectarian disputes between majority Sunni and minority Shia Muslims regularly rears its head

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