Musharraf slams attack on religious procession

President Pervez Musharraf yesterday strongly condemned a "terrorist attack" on a religious procession in the southwest Pakistani city of Quetta.

He directed the authorities to take all measures to "apprehend the culprits responsible for this heinous act," according to a statement yesterday.

At least 40 people were killed and nearly 100 injured during a parade to mark 'Ashura', which commemorates the martyrdom of Prophet Mohammad's (PBUH) grandson Imam Hussain some 1,300 years ago.

Musharraf reiterated his government's "resolve to fight the scourge of terrorism, extremism and sectarianism and to rid the country of this menace."

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid told state television that Musharraf had ordered an investigation and promised cash assistance for victims' relatives.

Army and paramilitary troops had to be called in to stop rioters who set ablaze more than 50 shops and attacked a mosque, and ranscaked a television network office of Pakistan's largest selling Urdu-newspaper Jang, which also owns the private television channel Geo.

Authorities imposed curfew to restore law and order, but violence continued for several hours.

Riaz Kakar, the mayor of Quetta, said a curfew had been imposed for an indefinite period. "The government has launched an inquiry into the incident," he said.

The terrorists opened fire with automatic weapons on the procession in the heart of the city near Maizan Square from three or four directions, witnesses said.

"The terrorists fired from balconies of the nearby buildings," Riaz Khan, deputy inspector general of police in Quetta, told Gulf News by telephone.

"Two of the terrorists blew themselves up with explosives when they found their escape route had been closed," he said. "I saw their bodies dangling from the balconies." A senior intelligence official said on condition of anonymity that authorities had separated the remains of one of the suspected attackers, and said that there was evidence he may have blown himself up.

Witnesses said the terrorists also hurled hand grenades. Most of the victims died because of bullet wounds and stampede. Some also because of explosions.

The army ordered people to stay home as huge plumes of smoke billowed from the burning shops and public and private property. Ambulances removed the injured to the city's civil hospital where the staff said several were critical.

Mohammed Wasim, a doctor at the Central Government Hospital in Quetta, said the facility had received 19 bodies.

The Combined Military Hospital reported 22 bodies were brought in since the attack early yesterday afternoon.

In Karachi, thousands of Shiites halted their traditional Muharram processions to stage a sit-in on the main road to protest the incidents in Quetta.

RAMPAGE

Despite tight security

• The attack came despite the government's efforts to maintain law and order during the month of Muharram when Shiites mourn the 7th century slaying of Hazrat Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), and his companions.

• Police suspect the outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is responsible for the attack because some of the weapons used by the terrorists had the name of this organisation inscribed on it.

• Government officials were tight-lipped over casualty figures. "It will further fuel the sentiment. We want Muharram processions to end then we will release the official figures," a government minister said by telephone from Islamabad.

• Tasneem Noorani, secretary of interior ministry, said arrests had been made in connection with the Quetta firing. "But it is too early to give any details of who these people are" he said.

• Quetta is considered a hub of activity of the Afghan Taliban. The provincial government of Baluchistan is run by the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a religious alliance, whose main component is the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam.

• Ejaz Hussain Naqvi, a leader of the banned Shiite Tehreek-e-Jafria was shot dead yesterday in Mandi Bahauddin in Punjab province.