At least 25 people have been killed and 50 others injured in an
apparent suicide bomb blast at a Shiite Muslim mosque in the
eastern Pakistani city of Sialkot.
Local reports say the explosion occurred during a Friday prayer
sermon with some 1,000 participating at the mosque in the
industrial border city, about 170 kilometers southeast of
Islamabad.
No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the event
yet.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed condemned
the blast, adding that it might be retaliation for the killing last
Sunday of the most wanted Pakistani militant, Amjad Hussain
Farooqi.
Seen as the main link between Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda and
local militant groups, Farooqi was a key suspect in two
assassination attempts on President Pervez Musharraf last
December.
A number of attacks against Shiite mosques have taken place
across the country in recent months. In May, 14 people were killed
and 200 injured by a suicide bomber at a Shiite mosque in the
southern port city of Karachi.
(CRI.com October 2, 2004)