40 killed in religious rally attack

Injured receive medical treatment at a hospital in Multan yesterday after a bomb blast that killed at least 38 Sunni Muslims and wounded more than 100 when two bombs exploded at a gathering commemorating the first anniversary of the death of a leader of an outlawed militant organization Sipa-e-Sahaba. PHOTO: EPA

Two planted in a car and motorcycle exploded at a gathering of Sunni Muslim radicals in central Pakistan before dawn yesterday, killing at least 40 people and wounding about 100 others in what police suspected was a sectarian attack.

The blasts ripped through a crowd of mourners leaving the overnight rally attended by several thousand in the city of Multan to mark the first anniversary of the shooting of extremist Sunni religious leader Azam Tariq, who was gunned down on the outskirts of Islamabad last October.

"It was dark and people were screaming for help," said one witness. "It was utter chaos."

About angry Sunnis gathered outside a hospital where victims of the explosions in the city of Multan were taken, shouting "Shiites are infidels!" and slogans against the government, witnesses said.

The bombings came less than a week after a suicide attack left 31 dead at a Shiite mosque in the eastern city of Sialkot on Oct. 2 and Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said it could have been a sectarian act of revenge.

"The explosion numbed our ears, we saw people falling on each other, everybody was crying, everybody was running."

Jamil Usmani, an eyewitness

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz convened an emergency meeting and the Interior Ministry would propose a ban on large religious gatherings, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said.

The rally had ended and people were dispersing in pre-dawn darkness from a meeting ground in the Rasheedabad area when the car bomb exploded, said Sikander Hayat, police chief in Multan.

Two later a second bomb attached to a motorcycle went off, deputy city police chief Arshad Hameed said.

Large of blood stained the ground and pieces of flesh lay scattered around. Nearby houses and shops were damaged.

Jamil Usmani, 26, who had been standing in a nearby parking lot with friends, said a stampede after the bombing caused many injuries.

"The explosion numbed our ears, we saw people falling on each other, everybody was crying, everybody was running," he said. "Many people were injured in the stampede, we started picking them up and asked passing cars for help."

Most of the casualties were followers of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (Soldiers of Mohammad's Companions), an outlawed Sunni group that Tariq headed and which has been blamed for many bloody attacks on Shiites, who make up about 15 percent of Pakistan's mainly Sunni population of 150 million.

Sipah-e-Sahaba one of seven militant groups outlawed by Musharraf after he joined the US-led war on terror following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the US.

Like such organizations, it took another name after being banned -- Millat-e-Islamia (Islamic Nation). The leader of the renamed group, Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, blamed Shiite radicals for the blast.

He appealed to his followers to remain calm. But addressing thou-sands gathered to offer funeral prayers, he demanded that the government track down those responsible within a week or he would call for a march on Islamabad.

Abdul Jalil Naqvi, a leader of the main Shiite militant group, the ban-ned Islami Tehrik Pakistan, denied the attack was carried out by Shiites and said it was an act of terrorism aimed at inciting a sectarian war.

"We condemn it," he said.

Officials about 1,000 police were called from other areas, and soldiers were patrolling the city.