ISLAMABAD, 10 February 2006 — A suicide attack on a Shiite procession and subsequent violence in Pakistan’s northwest killed at least 35 people and injured dozens yesterday. The bomber targeted the procession in the town of Hangu in North West Frontier Province to mark Ashura.
In Islamabad, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said there had been three blasts.
Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a bus outside Hangu, killing four passengers, including a woman, and injuring two, officials said.
Superintendent Mohammad Ayub of the Hangu police said four people died in a shootout during a curfew imposed after the bombing — one policeman, a soldier, and two civilians.
Abdul Rashid, medical superintendent at Hangu hospital, said 29 people had been brought dead there. “Some of them have bullet wounds. All of them are Shiites.”
Witnesses said a procession of about 300 people in black mourning clothes had come out of the Imam Barga Quami at around 9.45 a.m. and were passing the town bazaar when the explosion went off.
“The procession started and we were beating our chests. All of sudden there was an explosion in the procession,” said Asar Hussain, 45, who suffered shrapnel wounds to his torso, head and legs. He believed it was a suicide attack but did not see the bomber.
Vegetable vendor Mohammed Jamil, 25, said panic followed. “Some people rushed to the injured and dead bodies, others went to houses and took out weapons and knives and kerosene and started setting fire to shops, destroying everything,” he said.
Authorities declared a curfew and deployed the army to restore order in the market town of about 200,000 people. Officials reported gunfire between groups of rioters and security forces.
NWFP police chief Riffat Pasha said the bombing was a suicide attack and troops and armored personnel carriers were sent to restore order. Troops put up barricades on roads into Hangu.
Among the bodies at Hangu’s Civil Hospital was one that was headless and bystanders said it was that of the bomber.
Most shops at the site of the blast in the main bazaar were burned and some were still ablaze hours after the explosion. The street was littered with scraps of clothing and sandals. There was occasional sound of gunfire, and sometimes the boom of heavier weapons, as troops fired at protesters.
Helicopters landed at a police training college in the town and took 27 of the more than 50 injured away for treatment at an army base in the nearby city of Kohat.
Hangu Mayor Ghani-ur-Rehman said he did not believe sectarian rivalry was responsible. “I think it is not a Shiite-Sunni affair — it is terrorism,” he said, adding that there were also Sunnis in the procession, including himself. “I don’t believe Sunnis of Hangu would attack the Shiites.”
Sunni-Shiite violence has killed thousands since the 1980s.
Shiite leader Sajid Ali Naqvi called the Hangu incident “religious terrorism” and accused Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s government of failing to rein in militants. “Unless action is taken against them the situation will continue to move to a serious danger,” he said.
— Additional input from agencies
