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Pakistan Mosque Blast Kills 11
ISLAMABAD,
April 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A bomb ripped through a
Shiite Muslim mosque in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province Thursday
night, killing at least 10 worshippers and wounding several others,
news agencies reported.
Local
police officer Mohammad Altaf told Agence France-Presse (AFP) the
attack occurred in Bhakkar district of central Punjab province, where
10,000 devotees were mourning the death of the Prophet Mohammad
(Allah’s Peace and Prayers Be upon Him)'s grandson, Imam Hussain.
Altaf
said the worshippers, who had trekked from all over Pakistan, were
staying in tents and the bomb exploded around midnight (1800 GMT
Thursday, April 25) in an area for women and children.
Witness
Kashif Naqvi said the explosion sent bodies flying 50 meters (160
feet) and left a crater about 1.5 meters long and nearly two meters
deep.
"It
was deafening, human bodies flew in the air and there was blood all
around," Naqvi told AFP by telephone from near the bomb site.
Bhakkar
district hospital official Mohammad Javed said at least 10 people were
killed by the explosion.
"We
have received dead bodies of nine women and one male child so
far," Javed said.
"Around
30 women and children have been brought into the hospital with serious
injuries."
BBC’s
online news service put the death toll at 11: nine women and two
children, and said more than 20 other people were injured in the
explosion.
It
was not immediately clear who planted the bomb, BBC added.
Altaf
told AFP police suspected the bomb was detonated using a time delay
device, but the investigation had only just begun.
No
one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the blame has
already been fixed on Pakistan's majority Sunni community.
The
trouble began February 26 when unidentified gunmen sprayed a Shiite
mosque in the northern city of Rawalpindi with automatic gunfire,
killing 11 people and wounding 14. The attack was then blamed on
Sunnis.
A
prominent Shiite leader was gunned down a few days later in the
eastern city of Sialkot and a mosque caretaker and his son were killed
in a drive-by shooting in Bahawalpur at the end of March.
About
75 percent of Pakistan's 140 million people are Sunnis, with Shiites
making up just over 20 percent.
Police
said they were still investigating the explosion.
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