19 dead in Pakistan suicide attack
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A suicide attack in the heart of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on Sunday left at least 19 dead including ten policemen and injured 40 others. The injured have been rushed to hospital.
On this day last year General Pervez Musharraf’s soldiers stormed the Lal Masjid in Islamabad killing at least 100 people. On Sunday, a suicide bomber blew up ten policemen close to the mosque.
The police have cordoned off the area and emergency services have been set up at the spot and emergency has been declared at all hospitals in Islamabad.
The security was put on high alert in Karachi as well, where Asia Cup final was played between India and Sri Lanka. The entrances to the Karachi stadium were also blocked.
The Islamabad police chief has said that the blast at Lal Masjid was a suicide attack. Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raja Gillani has condemned the attack and has also ordered inquiry into the incident.
The blast has occurred on the anniversary of Pakistan Army’s crackdown on Lal Masjid in 2007, wherein, 100 people were killed.
PTI adds
The powerful blast, which was heard from several kilometres away, occurred as a large crowd of slogan shouting and flag waving people, including madrasa students and outlawed extremist groups like the Sipah-e-Sahaba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, began dispersing at about 7.50 pm.
Witnesses said the explosion occurred in the vicinity of a petrol station near Melody Market, which is located adjacent to the Lal Masjid and created panic among the people who ran back towards the mosque.
Body parts and pools of blood lay strewn all over the area, which was cordoned off by the police. Nine of the dead were policemen.
The blast targetted the site where a large number of policemen had gathered as part of the security arrangements for the meeting where several clerics made hard-hitting speeches criticising the arrest of former Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz as well as the government’s plans for reforming madrasas.
”Musharraf, Aftab Sherpao (then interior minister) and others responsible for the bloodbath should be tried and hanged publicly,” Islamist leader Idrees Haqqani said as the crowd raised their hands in approval chanted slogans like ”Allah-o-Akbar” (God is great).
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Filed under: Pakistan News