KARACHI: A suicide bombing at a mosque triggered sectarian clashes in this volatile city in southern Pakistan yesterday, as rival Sunni and Shiite Muslims exchanged gunfire, killing at least one passer-by, police said.
Two other people were wounded in the unrest which occurred after Shiites mourning worshippers killed in Friday’s blast pelted a Sunni mosque with stones in Karachi’s Sohrab Goth district, said police officer Latif Siddiqui.
Police fired tear gas shells to disperse the crowds.
Police have released a sketch of the suspected suicide bomber, dressed like a Shiite scholar, based on descriptions from survivors. It shows a man aged about 30 with a short black beard and mustache, wearing a black turban and robe.
Earlier yesterday, police detained 50 Shiite youths, as unrest triggered by the attack continued with arson and stone-throwing around the city.
Shiite protesters set fire to two police posts in Sohrab Goth and smashed windows of several shops in a market. They have also burned vehicles and the office of a state-run gas company.
Senior investigator Manzoor Mughal said police were trying to identify the maimed body of the bomber, thought to have used about three kilograms of high explosive in the attack.
“The statements given to us by some injured worshippers and other evidence make us believe that a man who was dressed like a Shiite scholar was in fact the suicide bomber,” Mughal said. He gave no other details.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Pakistani newspapers expressed outrage at Friday’s attack, and criticised the government for failing to stop the violence – which has repeatedly scarred the country since it became a key ally in the US-led war on terrorism in late 2001.
“How many attacks must take place for the government to realise that something is missing in its anti-terrorism strategy?” Dawn said in an editorial.
The English-language daily called for tough action against those religious schools and prayer leaders in Pakistan preaching “sectarian hatred and militancy.” Though police did not make any arrests, authorities at the time said they feared suicide and other bomb attacks.
Police and paramilitary rangers were patrolling this city of 15 million, where relatives started burying the dead yesterday. Businesses were shuttered and traffic was light because of the rioting. – AP