Mosque bombing kills 14 in Pakistan

By Zarar Khan
The Associated Press

SHAKIL ADIL / AP Pakistani police officers inspect the inside of a damaged mosque after a bomb exploded yesterday during Friday prayers in Karachi, Pakistan, killing at least 14 people and wounding more than 200.

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KARACHI, Pakistan — A suspected suicide bombing shattered Friday prayers at a crowded mosque yesterday, killing at least 14 people and wounding more than 200 — the second deadly attack on minority Shiite Muslims in Pakistan in two months.

Hundreds of Shiite youths began burning cars, gas pumps and a government office after the explosion, which left walls scarred by shrapnel and carpets soaked in blood. Police urged Shiite leaders to help quell the unrest in Pakistan's largest city.

There was no word on the motive for the attack, which President Gen. Pervez Musharraf called a "heinous act of terrorism."

Aftab Sheikh, who is responsible for law and order in Sindh province, blamed anti-state elements for the explosion but would not elaborate. Karachi is home to several radical Islamic groups.

The attack occurred shortly after 1 p.m. at a mosque inside the government-run Sindh Madrassah tul Islam religious school for students ages 4 to 18. It has separate mosques for Sunni and Shiite Muslim worshippers.

Witnesses said the school had let out early, as it does on Fridays, so most of the victims were adults who came to the mosque for prayers.

Chief investigator Manzoor Mughal said no crater was found at the blast point, suggesting a person had been carrying the bomb. "We are still investigating, but it seems it was a suicide bombing," he said.

Several survivors described a suspicious-looking man in a black robe and black turban who had been sitting near the column where the bomb exploded.

About 80 percent of Pakistan's 150 million people are Sunni, and the rest are Shiite. Most live together in peace, but radical groups on both sides are responsible for frequent deadly attacks.
 
In March, Sunni radicals attacked a Shiite procession in the southwestern city of Quetta, killing more than 40 people and wounding 150. Karachi, Pakistan's business hub, has been hit by frequent acts of terrorism.

Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered in Karachi in January 2002. Later that year, a suicide attack outside a Karachi hotel killed 11 French engineers, and a suicide bombing killed 14 Pakistanis outside the U.S. Consulate. Islamic militants were blamed for both bombings.