Death Toll From Pakistan Bombing Reaches 43

KARACHI, Pakistan — Authorities appealed for calm Tuesday after a bombing against a Shiite Muslim procession killed 43 in Pakistan's largest city of Karachi, setting off riots and igniting fears of sectarian unrest.

Security was tight as thousands of people gathered in central Karachi for funerals of some of those killed in Monday's bombing of a Shiite procession marking the key holy day of Ashoura.

The attack sparked riots as people rampaged through the city, setting fire to markets and stores. Firefighters were still battling the flames Tuesday, with authorities calling for reinforcements from the city of Hyderabad, 105 miles north of Karachi, Pakistan's main commercial hub.

Karachi Mayor Mustafa Kamal said the city's largest wholesale market was on fire, and that hundreds of shops had been destroyed, with damages estimated to run into millions of dollars.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik, who visited Karachi on Tuesday, said authorities were still trying to determine whether the attack had been carried out by a suicide bomber, as he had said Monday.

"The investigation is still going on to determine whether it was a suicide attack or some improvised explosive device was used," said Malik, who appealed for calm and said he had ordered an investigation into who was behind the rioting.

"If anyone is trying to cripple Karachi, then he is also trying to cripple Pakistan," the minister said.

Senior health official Hashim Malik said the death toll increased to 43 on Tuesday. Many among the dozens wounded were critically hurt, and several died overnight and on Tuesday morning.

Karachi has largely been spared the Taliban-linked violence that has struck much of the rest of the country, a fact that analysts believe is driven by the group's tendency to use the teeming metropolis as a place to rest and raise money. But the city has been the scene of frequent sectarian, ethnic and political violence.

It was unclear who was behind Monday's bombing. Pakistani authorities say sectarian groups have teamed up with Taliban and al-Qaida militants waging war against the government in a joint effort to destabilize Pakistan. More than 500 people have been killed in attacks since mid-October when the army launched a major anti-Taliban offensive in the country's northwest.

"A deliberate attempt seems to be afoot by the extremists to turn the fight against militants into a sectarian clash and make the people fight against one another," said President Asif Ali Zardari in a statement Monday.

Monday's bombing struck at the start of a procession of Shiites marking Ashoura, the most important day of a monthlong mourning period for the seventh-century death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein. Minority Shiites have suffered frequent attacks by Sunni extremist groups who regard them as heretical.

"I fell down when the bomb went off with a big bang," said Naseem Raza, a 26-year-old who was marching in the procession. "I saw walls stained with blood and splashed with human flesh."

Residents in apartments near the blast site tossed down body parts that had been cast into their homes from the explosion, while birds dove down to pick at the flesh amid damaged vehicles and motorbikes.

More at FoxNews

Quake shakes Pakistan, Afghanistan

A earthquake of magnitude 6.2 has shaken buildings across northern Afghanistan and Pakistan.The earthquake was centred in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan, according to the US Geological Survey.

The quake was felt in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, Al Jazeera's correspondents reported.

There were no initial reports of damage or casualties from the quake, which struck at about 12.21am Afghan time on Friday (19:51GMT Thursday), although information from rural areas is expected to take some time to filter out.

Alan Fisher, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Islamabad, said: "It shook large parts of Islamabad, for at least eight or nine seconds and then there was a very strong aftershock immediately afterwards.

"It wasn't just felt here in Islamabad, but also in Kabul and Karachi.

"The concern, of course, will be how much damage has it done to the epicentre and the towns there.

"At the moment, as the Pakistani army is fighting a major offensive in South Waziristan, they may have to put a great deal of resources into the area where the earthquake may have caused damage," Al Jazeera's correspondent said.

"That might affect the operation ... not just in South Waziristan but the security operation that has been mounted all around the country."

James Bays, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kabul, said: "The whole building where I am shook. It's a place where we have a lot of seismic activity, a place prone to earthquakes.

"Those people who are there in the area where the quake struck will be on their own for a very long time. It is a highly mountainous area, so initial impressions are that there won't be a huge number of casualties.

"On the other hand, if it has hit a village, and there are casualties, it is going to take a very long time to get them assistance."

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake in northwest Pakistan and Kashmir in October 2005 killed 74,000 people and displaced 3.5 million others.

Source: Al Jazeera (English)

Mother of nine killed over honour

KARACHI: A man surrendered himself to the police after killing his wife, mother of nine children, in the wee hours of Tuesday.

The Mochko police said that Mohammad Rehman confessed to the crime and surrendered himself to them after killing Mash Parri, 52, in Khyber Mohalla of Ittehad Town over suspicions of illicit relations. The police have registered a case on the complaint of the victim’s brother.

Separately, an estate agent was killed outside his house in Block 17 of Gulshan-e-Iqbal. The Aziz Bhatti police said that unidentified culprits shot Moizuddin dead when he returned from work, adding that the victim might have been killed over a property dispute. The police have registered a case on the complaint of the victim’s brother.

In another case, a 40-year-old man was killed in Landhi Dairy Colony in the wee hours. The Sukkhun police said that Farid was killed with a sharp-edged weapon on a cattle farm, adding that the victim might have been killed over personal enmity.

In a separate case, the stabbed body of a 40-year-old man was found near Ghagar Phatak in the wee hours. The police said that Mailap Khan was killed with a sharp-edged weapon. The police have registered a case against unidentified culprits.

Suicide: A 55-year-old woman committed suicide at her house in a slum locality of Shah Faisal Colony No 5 on Tuesday. The police said that Zareena Akramuddin hung herself from a ceiling fan over her husband’s second marriage.

Body found: A decomposed body of a young fisherman was recovered from Seaview on Tuesday. The Darakhshan police said that Ali, a resident of Ibrahim Hyderi Goth, had drowned in the sea three days ago.

Source: DailyTimes

H/T: WomenAgainstSharia

Pakistan: Arrests thwart Karachi attacks

Pakistan security officials show seized weapons
and ammunition in Karachi on Sunday after
the arrest of seven alleged militants

Pakistani authorities have launched a massive crackdown on terror groups that they say were planning numerous suicide attacks, including in the country's largest city of Karachi.

At least 24 suspects were arrested Sunday and Monday, including three people carrying suicide jackets and explosives inside a bus station, a police official said. The three were seized early Monday after police raided a bus station in Sargodha, a city located about 190 kilometers (120 miles) south of Islamabad in Pakistan's Punjab province.

The suspects were plotting to attack two Shiite mosques, police stations, and a Norwegian telecommunications company in Punjab, according to district police officer Usman Anwar. Three other suspects linked to the plot were arrested hours later in Sargodha, he said.

The arrests come a day after the Pakistani Taliban's chief in Punjab was arrested, along with five others, according to Anwar.

The Taliban in Punjab have direct ties to Baitullah Mehsud, the former head of the Pakistan Taliban, and have been accused of sectarian murders in Punjab. Pakistan and U.S. officials contend Mehsud was killed in an August 5 drone attack in Waziristan at his father-in-law's house. The Taliban claim Mehsud is alive but ill.

Hakeemullah Mehsud has been selected as the new head of the Pakistani Taliban, a Taliban commander said Saturday.

Pakistani authorities also said they thwarted planned attacks in the southern port city of Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and the capital of Sindh province. Five suspected members of the Pakistani Taliban were seized Sunday in Karachi, along with suicide vests and a large quantity of ammunition, according to the city's police superintendent Mohammed Fayyaz Khan. Read more here ...

Source: CNN

Pakistan demo against Islam film

By Carl Dinnen

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Pakistan to protest against a controversial film about Islam made by a Dutch MP.

Crowds gathered in Karachi to condemn the MP, Geert Wilders, some chanting "death to the blasphemer". Read more ...

Source: Channel 4

Strike against blasphemous cartoons: Nine vehicles torched, over six injured in Karachi

KARACHI: Nine vehicles were torched and over half-a-dozen people reportedly sustained bullet wounds during the strike called by the Sunni Tehreek (ST) for Friday. Meanwhile, the police have reportedly taken over a dozen ST workers in custody since Thursday night and the ST has claimed that the arrests were because its workers were just trying to create awareness among people by distributing leaflets, etc. Read more ...

Source: Daily Times

Cartoon Gihad Continues

Indonesians Protest Muhammad Drawings

SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) - Muslims protested in two Indonesian cities Saturday over drawings in Denmark portraying the Prophet Muhammad, with some calling for the artist to be put to death.

"Enough is enough. They have to stop insulting Islam," said Muhammad Djabir, one of about 1,000 protesters in the mostly Muslim country's second-largest city, Surabaya.

Others in the crowd outside the Danish consulate shouted "Death sentence for the cartoonist!"

The drawing, reprinted in 17 Danish newspapers earlier this month, shows the Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban and was one of 12 drawings that sparked protests in Muslim countries when they were first published in 2006, including Indonesia. Read more ...

Source: AP
H/T: Jihad Watch

Pakistani cartoon protesters burn Danish, US flags

Pakistani cartoon protesters burn Danish, US flagsKARACHI - Hundreds of angry Muslim youths rallied in major cities in Pakistan on Friday and torched Danish flags to protest against the recent republication of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh).

Witnesses said about 150 supporters of fundamentalist party Jamaat-i-Islami gathered outside a mosque in the port city of Karachi, flying banners demanding Pakistan sever diplomatic ties with Denmark.

"We don't need to have diplomatic relations with a country that hurts our religious sentiments," the banners read, as demonstrators burned Danish and US flags and chanted: "Death to the cartoonist."

In the capital Islamabad, cries of "Say no to Denmark" rang out as about 300 students from colleges and Islamic schools crowded outside the city’s biggest mosque, witnesses said.

They burned an effigy of the Danish cartoonist amid chants of "Crush Denmark" and "We love our Prophet." Read more ...

Source: AFP
H/T: Jihad Watch

Homicide Bombings: Karachi, Pakistan, October 18, 2007

Muslims Against Sharia condemn the murderers responsible for Karachi bombings that left more than 100 dead and more than 200 wounded.

Our prayers are with the victims of this atrocity. We send our condolences to their loved ones.

May the homicide bombers rot in hell for eternity. May their accomplices join them soon!