Pakistan Karachi bomb blast kills at least 25
BBC News online - 3 March 2013
Rescuers have been searching for survivors in buildings wrecked by the blast
At least 25 people have been killed by a bomb explosion in the Pakistani city of Karachi, police say.
The blast in the mainly Shia Muslim area of Abbas Town
destroyed several buildings and set others on fire. Some reports spoke
of a second explosion.Rescuers have been struggling to reach people thought to be trapped under the rubble.
Pakistan's Shia minority are the target of frequent sectarian attacks from Sunni militant groups.
The explosion sent a huge column of smoke into the sky above Karachi and caused a power cut in part of the city.
Residents have been using car headlights to help rescuers search for survivors, local media reports said.
More than 50 people were injured, and there are fears the number of dead will rise.
Sunni and Shia Muslims
- Muslims are split into two main branches, the Sunnis and Shias
- The split originates in a dispute soon after the death of the Prophet Muhammad over who should lead the Muslim community
- There are also differences in doctrine, ritual, law, theology and religious organisation
- The great majority of Muslims are Sunnis
- Pakistan - where Shias are a minority - has a history of sectarian bloodshed dating back to the 1980s
Rescue work was delayed as some residents fired guns into the air in anger at the carnage, reports say.
Pakistan's main political and religious leaders rushed to condemn the attack - the latest to target the Shia minority.
Nearly 200 people were killed in two separate bombings targeting the Shia community in the south-western city of Quetta in January and February.
Some relatives of the victims there initially refused to bury their dead in protest at what they said was the failure of the authorities to protect their community from attack.
No group has yet said it carried out the Karachi bombing, but correspondents say suspicion is likely to fall on Sunni militant groups.
Groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi regard Shia Muslims as heretics and have stepped up attacks in recent years.
They are thought to have set several training camps for militants and police seizures have shown they have access to large quantities of weapons and explosives, the BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says.
Some activists called 2012 the worst year in living memory for attacks on Pakistan's Shia community.
Karachi - Pakistan's biggest city and commercial capital - has a long history of violence.
As well as a sectarian divide between Sunni and Shia, that city has also seen conflict between different ethnic communities - Pashtuns from north-west Pakistan, Mohajirs (immigrants from India following the Partition) and Sindhis.
Labels: Conflict, Crisis Politics, Islamism, Pakistan, Persecution
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, March 03, 2013
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