Suicide bomber kills 23 people in Pakistan
By ASIF SHAHZAD Associated Press November 22, 2012 12:04AM
Pakistani hospital staffers treat a person injured Wednesday in a suicide attack on Shiite mourners in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. A suicide bomber had tried to enter a procession near a Shiite mosque, where the bomber detonated the explosives after being stopped by security forces, killing 23 people and injuring at least 62, police officials said. | C.A. Hussain~AP
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ISLAMABAD — A suicide bomber struck a Shiite Muslim procession near Pakistan’s capital about midnight Wednesday, killing 23 people. It was the latest in a series of bombings targeting Shiites during the holiest month of the year for the sect, officials said Thursday.
The bomber attacked the procession in the city of Rawalpindi, which is next to the capital, Islamabad, said Deeba Shahnaz, a state rescue official. At least 62 people were wounded by the blast, including six policemen. Eight of the dead and wounded were children, Shahnaz said.
Police tried to stop and search the bomber as he attempted to join the procession, but he ran past them and detonated his explosives, senior police official Haseeb Shah said. The attacker also was carrying grenades, some of which exploded, Shah said.
“I think the explosives combined with grenades caused the big loss,” said Shah.
Earlier Wednesday, two bombs went off within minutes outside a Shiite mosque in the southern city of Karachi, killing at least one person and wounding several others, senior police official Javed Odho said.
The bombings came as Shiites were observing the holy month of Muharram. On Saturday, Shiites will observe the holiest day of the month, Ashoura, which commemorates the seventh century death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson.
Sunnis and Shiites have been at odds since the seventh century over the true heir to Muhammad.
Pakistan has a long history of sectarian violence carried out by both extremist Sunni and Shiite Muslims against the opposite sect. Most attacks in recent years have targeted Shiites, who make up a minority in the overwhelmingly Muslim country.
