The Hindu : Front Page : Suicide attack in Pakistan kills 8

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Monday, Jul 07, 2008
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Suicide attack in Pakistan kills 8

Nirupama Subramanian

Lal Masjid siege anniversary rally turns bloody

A group of unarmed policemen was targeted
Tehreek-i-Taliban had warned of bloody reprisals

ISLAMABAD: The anniversary of the Lal Masjid siege turned into a day of more bloodshed for Pakistan as eight policemen were killed and several injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up some distance from the mosque during a commemorative rally here on Sunday by religious leaders and students.

Pakistani television channels quoting hospital sources said 19 people were killed in the attack.

The suicide bomber struck at about 8 p.m., just as the rally was drawing to a close and people were leaving the area.

He targeted a group of unarmed policemen near a shopping centre called Melody Market, less than a kilometre from the rally.

Interior Adviser Rehman Malik, who visited the blast site, confirmed it was a suicide bombing. He said eight policemen were killed, and 23 wounded in the blast.

“There were 12,000 people here and any one of them could have done it, and he did it,” he said.

Mr. Malik, who functions as the Interior Minister, said “anti-national” forces trying to “destabilise” the country were behind the bombing.

“Only those forces that are against the interests of the nation could have done this. They are doing this in Balochistan also. But we know how to deal with these elements,” he said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast. The Pakistan Army commando operation at the Lal Masjid set off a wave of revenge suicide bombings targeting security forces in the North-West Frontier Province and in the capital.

Two weeks after the siege, when the government tried to reopen the mosque, an attack near the Lal Masjid similarly targeted policemen deployed in the area, killing seven of them.

Recently, the Tehreek-i-Taliban, a South Waziristan-based group, warned of bloody reprisals in the rest of the country to avenge the government action against militant gangs in the Khyber agency adjacent to the North West Frontier Province capital, Peshawar.

Security at Sunday’s rally was tight. The Interior Ministry said it deployed nearly 3,000 policemen in the area around the Lal Masjid. The roads leading to the mosque were closed to traffic. Those attending the rally had to go past multiple security checks.

President Pervez Musharraf condemned the blast and reiterated the government’s commitment to root out terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack as against the teachings of Islam.

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