Men held for questioning over horror mosque attack

Police raided homes in southwest Pakistan and detained 17 men in connection with the suicide bombing of a mosque in Quetta that killed 44 Shiite Muslims as they prayed, police said yesterday.

The men, whom police have refused to identify by name or nationality, are being questioned about Friday's bombing in the capital of Baluchistan province, near the border with Afghanistan, which also killed at least three attackers.

Police said a fourth man, also believed to have been involved in the assault, died of injuries later in a hospital.

"We are carrying out raids. We are picking up people. So far we have 17 people in custody," Quetta Deputy Police Chief Humayun Jogezai said. "They are being investigated."

Pakistani authorities earlier said they were investigating whether al-Qaeda fugitives or remnants of the Taliban militia were behind the attack on the mosque, where about 2,000 Shiite Muslims had gathered for prayers.

Most of the worshippers were Hazaras, an ethnic group that also exists in Afghanistan and has fought against the Taliban militia.

Shiite Muslims account for about a third of Quetta's 1.2 million population. The rest are mostly Sunni Muslims, who are a majority in Pakistan.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack, which caused enraged Shiite Muslims to riot in Quetta and in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi.

The army was called out in Quetta and a curfew imposed. The curfew was relaxed yesterday, with residents allowed out of their homes for several hours during the day.

Syed Ashraf Zaidi, president of the Baluchistan Shiite Conference, said two of the slain attackers were not Pakistani. He did not identify their nationality.