MONG, Pakistan, 8 October 2005 — Masked gunmen with Kalashnikov rifles stormed into a shrine of Ahmadia sect in Pakistan yesterday, shooting dead eight people and wounding 14, the interior minister and police said.
Three men on a motorbike and two on foot attacked the shrine in Mong, a suburb of Mandi Bahauddin town, 100 km south of Islamabad. “Eight people are dead and 14 injured,” Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said. “We condemn this attack. Any act of violence in which innocent people are killed should be condemned.”
Sherpao said he haS issued orders to further tighten security at places of worship. Pakistan has been on alert since the start of Ramadan, which has traditionally seen a surge in attacks.
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad also condemned the attack.
The head of the shrine, Sadiq Hussain Sherazi, said he was leading the prayers when he heard the “cracking sound of gunfire and I immediately threw myself on the floor.”
“The attackers thought I was dead and that is what saved me. After a while I got up and saw bodies all around me,” he said. “People riddled with bullets were shouting for help. There was blood and chaos all around and the wall was full of bullet holes.”
Neighbors rushed in and took the injured to hospital, Sherazi said. Six people were killed on the spot while two others died in the hospital, he added.
Area police chief Ziaullah Niazi confirmed that eight were dead and 14 injured, adding that one of the wounded was in a critical condition.
“Two masked men entered the shrine and calmly sprayed bullets at people standing in two rows for morning prayers,” Niazi said. “One witness said they could hear the sound of a motorbike with its engine running outside throughout the attack.”
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
