ISLAMABAD, 2 October 2004 — A suspected suicide bomb blast ripped through a Shiite mosque during Friday prayers in Sialkot, 170 kilometers southeast of here, killing at least 30 people and leaving dozens injured, sources said.
Hundreds of worshippers were packed into the Mistri Abdullah Imambargah Mosque in the city center when the massive explosion tore through the building, police spokesman Mohammad Ihsanullah said.
“Thirty people have died so far and the toll may rise as some of the injured are in critical condition,” police officer Syed Ishtiaq Hussain Shah told reporters near the site of the explosion.
Body parts and blood were seen splattered across the interior of the mosque. The explosion left a large crater and caused extensive damage to the building.
According to police, the blast looked like a suicide attack.
The explosion occurred at 1:30 p.m. at prayer time when Friday sermons were on and the mosque was packed with the faithful, causing a two-feet wide crater on the floor of the mosque and leaving shades and window panes shattered.
There were between 700 and 800 people in the mosque when the bomb exploded, one of a number of attacks in recent months against Shiite mosques across the country.
Some enraged people blaming the police for security failures threw stones at police vehicles.
President Pervez Musharraf strongly condemned the bombing and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to root out terrorism. In a statement he said the incident “clearly shows that terrorists have no religion and are enemies of mankind.”
Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed strongly condemned the blast, saying this could be an attempt to spoil Pakistan’s international image especially after President Musharraf’s successful foreign tour.
“This is a very tragic incident,” he added.
Meanwhile, a nine-kilogram bomb recovered from an unclaimed briefcase lying near the mosque was rendered inactive by a bomb disposal squad.
