Suicide bombers kill 41, injure scores at shrine
Source: Agencies |
April 4, 2011, Monday
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A PAIR of suicide bombers struck a shrine in Pakistan yesterday, killing at least 41 people gathered there and pressing a campaign of attacks against places of worship that extremists consider un-Islamic, officials said.
The practice of praying, singing and meditating at the shrines of holy men is widespread and much loved across Pakistan, but extremists view it a dangerous deviation from the Islam they follow.
Several thousand people were attending celebrations to mark the anniversary of the Sakhi Sarwar shrine in Dera Ghazi Khan district of Punjab province when the bombers struck crowds outside the complex, said government administrator Iftikhar Saho.
A stampede followed the bombings, but it was unclear if that caused any casualties.
Police said 41 people were killed and some 65 wounded.
TV footage showed ambulances racing to hospitals and volunteers helping blood-soaked victims.
Shrines in Pakistan range from one-room tombs in small villages to large complexes in major cities that attract thousands of people every day.
There has been bloody attacks on them, including one that killed 47 people at the nation's most revered shrine in Lahore last year.
Local and foreign Islamist militants have carried out hundreds of attacks in Pakistan over the last three years, targeting government buildings and security forces, Western targets like embassies and hotels as well as religious minorities and Muslim sects they consider heretical.
Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings yesterday.
"Our men carried out these attacks and we will carry out more in retaliation for government operations against our people in the northwest," Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said.
The practice of praying, singing and meditating at the shrines of holy men is widespread and much loved across Pakistan, but extremists view it a dangerous deviation from the Islam they follow.
Several thousand people were attending celebrations to mark the anniversary of the Sakhi Sarwar shrine in Dera Ghazi Khan district of Punjab province when the bombers struck crowds outside the complex, said government administrator Iftikhar Saho.
A stampede followed the bombings, but it was unclear if that caused any casualties.
Police said 41 people were killed and some 65 wounded.
TV footage showed ambulances racing to hospitals and volunteers helping blood-soaked victims.
Shrines in Pakistan range from one-room tombs in small villages to large complexes in major cities that attract thousands of people every day.
There has been bloody attacks on them, including one that killed 47 people at the nation's most revered shrine in Lahore last year.
Local and foreign Islamist militants have carried out hundreds of attacks in Pakistan over the last three years, targeting government buildings and security forces, Western targets like embassies and hotels as well as religious minorities and Muslim sects they consider heretical.
Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings yesterday.
"Our men carried out these attacks and we will carry out more in retaliation for government operations against our people in the northwest," Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said.
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