President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a key U.S.-ally in the war on terrorism who himself faced two assassination attempts by suspected Islamic militants in December vowed to see the culprits arrested, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told reporters.
Musharraf also resolved to rid Pakistan of terrorism, extremism and sectarianism.
Authorities have called the Quetta attack occurring less than two hours after coordinated blasts at Shiite shrines in Iraq killed at least 150 people there an attempt to destabilize Pakistan.
No group has claimed responsibility for the assault, one of the deadliest in years of sectarian violence in the country. Two of the attackers were among the dead; the third was in critical condition. Police would not reveal the identity of the men.
Enraged Shiites blamed the massacre on extremist Sunni Muslim groups, and targeted a Sunni mosque and shops in retaliatory rioting late Tuesday.
The bloodshed came on Ashoura, a day when Islam's Shiite faithful mark the death of a revered 7th-century leader by marching in black and lashing themselves in penitence.
In Pakistan, the emotional and highly visible annual rites often spark violence between the Sunni Muslim majority and Shiite minority.
A curfew declared immediately after the massacre remained in place across this southwestern city of 1.2 million. Army trucks mounted with machine-guns patrolled the empty roads, and sharpshooters were positioned on rooftops.
Firefighters battled late into Tuesday night to extinguish fires set by rioters at a market near a Shiite mosque. Nearly 60 shops stood gutted, goods scattered outside. A cinema and a bank were also ravaged in overnight arson attacks.
The death toll rose by one to 43 on Wednesday, according to officials at two hospitals in Quetta.
Tasneem Noorani, the top bureaucrat at the Interior Ministry, said a judicial inquiry would be held into the killings. He said six police officers were among the dead.
Allama Mahdi Najfi, the chief Shiite cleric in Quetta, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that they had counted 41 bodies of Shiite worshippers at hospitals. "Some of our people died because of police shooting," he said.
He also complained that police have arrested at least 25 Shiite youths for damaging public property, which he denied. Police said some rioters had been arrested, but declined to give details.
U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said investigators were looking into whether the attacks in Iraq and Pakistan were coordinated which they couldn't rule out but said there wasn't any evidence of that so far.
Quetta Mayor Abdul Rahim Kakar, who was near the procession when Tuesday's attack happened, said the slaughter opened when three men sprayed gunfire and hurled grenades into the process of Shiite Muslim faithful.
Walking among the survivors with more explosives lashed to their bodies, the men blew themselves up as police moved in, Kakar said.
Shiite Muslims and unidentified rivals exchanged gunfire at least once in the immediate aftermath, said Riaz Khan, Quetta's police chief.
Quetta, with a substantial Shiite Muslim minority, is a frequent scene of Shiite-Sunni clashes. In July, attackers armed with machine guns and grenades stormed a Shiite mosque in Quetta, killing 50 people praying inside.
Most of Pakistan's Sunnis and Shiites live peacefully together, but small radical groups on both sides are responsible for frequent attacks. All but 3 percent of Pakistan's people are Muslim, and Sunnis outnumber Shiites 4-to-1.
Separately, a fire and an ensuing stampede at a crowded Shiite mosque in Parachinar in northwestern Pakistan killed at least 13 women and children and injured 48 others, authorities said Wednesday. Officials said the fire late Tuesday was caused by a short circuit.
photo credit and caption:
Pakistan army soldiers arrive at the scene of an attack on a procession of Shiite Muslim worshippers, Tuesday, March 2, 2004, in Quetta, Pakistan. Armed men opened fire on Shiite Muslim worshippers during a religious procession in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 29 people and wounding more than 150, authorities said. The city's mayor declared a curfew. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
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