Pakistan: Suicide bomb sparks fears of sectarian violence
Pakistani police launched an investigation to learn the identity of a suicide bomber who killed 15 people in an attack on a Shiite mosque in the north-west city of Peshawar, an official said today.
Meanwhile, the chief minister of North West Frontier Province, of which Peshawar is the capital, called for calm amid fears the bombing could spark a wave of sectarian violence between majority Sunnis and minority Shiite Muslims.
No group has claimed responsibility for yesterday’s bombing in central Peshawar that wounded more than 30 other people and came as Pakistan’s Shiites began their most important annual festival, Ashoura, which has often been a target of anti-Shiite violence.
Chief Minister Akram Durrani asked the general public to demonstrate “patience and maintain religious discipline”, state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency reported.
Most Muslims from the majority Sunni and minority Shiite sects coexist peacefully in Pakistan, but militant groups on both sides are blamed for sectarian attacks that claim scores of lives every year.
Heavily-armed police and security forces in pickup trucks and armoured personnel carriers patrolled streets in Shiite-dominated areas in Peshawar on Sunday, but no violence was reported.
Investigators have collected human remains and bomb shrapnel from the scene of the bombing, said Fayyaz Toru, head of investigation department of Peshawar police.
Toru would not speculate on who might be behind Saturday’s attack in Peshawar or a motive, only describing it as a “terrorist act”.
Police have recovered two legs, without a torso, from the bombing scene and DNA tests will be performed on them to trace the identity of the body, Toru said.
Police also found remnants of a suicide belt with pieces of metal and a grenade, said another senior police officer.
The blast went off in a bazaar area about 200 yards from a mosque that was the starting point for the Shiite procession, which was cancelled. The blast caused a power cut that left the city centre in darkness, complicating rescue efforts.
Most of the victims were police and municipal officials who were clearing the route for the Shiite procession, police said.
The city’s police chief, Malik Saad, was among the dead, said provincial police chief Sharif Virk.
Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, suspicion will likely fall on Sunni extremists.
“The increasing sectarian violence in Iraq will definitely add tension here, and I think it is going to reunite sectarian elements, who have targeted each others’ worship places in the past,” said Talat Masood, a political and defence analyst.
Police officer Aziz Khan said he was nearby when the bomb went off and rushed to see if his colleagues had been hurt.
“I thought my eardrums had burst. Then there were flames and the people were in panic,” he said. “I went to see what had happened to my colleagues. Many were wounded in a bad way.”
President Pervez Musharraf, a key US ally in fighting al Qaida, condemned the “terrorist attack” and ordered an immediate inquiry, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
The Sunni-Shiite schism over who was the true heir to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad dates back to the seventh century. Shiites represent about 20% of Pakistan’s Muslims, and Sunnis about 80%.
During the Shiite mourning rites processions are held in the lead up to Ashoura, the culmination of the mourning festival, where participants beat their chests, and some cut their backs with blades attached to chains in an expression of grief over the killing of Imam Hussain, prophet Mohammed’s grandson.
