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Suicide bomber kills 22 cops in Pakistan
Fri, Jan 11, 2008 The Straits Times
LAHORE - A SUICIDE bomber yesterday attacked police officers outside the High Court in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, killing at least 22 policemen and injuring scores of others, officials said. The strike came even as the authorities stepped up security at holy sites on the eve of the Muslim month of Muharram, which is often marred by bombings and fighting between the country's Sunni Muslims and its Shi'ite minority. Police constable Jameel Ahmed said the attacker was a man aged about 25 who had arrived outside the court on a motorcycle. Lahore police chief Malik Iqbal said six people were critically wounded, and another 35 suffered minor injuries.

Mohammad Arshad, an 18-year-old clerk, working in a lawyer's office across the road, said he saw blood and bits of flesh sticking to the broken windows of his building.

'The whole building shook and when I ran out I saw bodies lying all around. There was flesh and blood everywhere and people were crying for help,' he said.

A wounded officer with his clothes apparently blown off by the force of the blast lay in the street screaming for help as security forces scrambled to cordon off the downtown area.

Police said the head of the suspected suicide bomber had been found about 100m from the explosion.

The Muslim month of Muharram, which begins on Friday, is especially important for Shi'ites, who stage processions to mourn the death in the 7th century of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson - an event that led to the split in Islam between the Shi'ite and Sunni sects.

The authorities deployed about 3,500 police and paramilitary troops in Quetta, a city close to the Afghan border that has suffered some of the worst of the violence between the two sects.

'Security forces have been deployed at all Shi'ite and Sunni mosques, and God willing we will ensure peace during Muharam,' said local police chief Mohammed Akbar Arien, adding that he hoped religious scholars from the two sects would urge their followers to promote sectarian harmony during the month.

Pakistan has seen a wave of bomb attacks that had killed hundreds in recent months, many of them suicide attacks on members of the security forces, but there had been none in Lahore.

Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated as she left an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi on Dec 27.

More than 20 bystanders were also killed in that attack, which led to the postponement of a Jan 8 general election meant to complete a transition to civilian rule in the nuclear-armed US ally. The latest violence deepened concerns about the general election now postponed to Feb 18.

Analysts and some politicians fear President Pervez Musharraf will seize the opportunity to put off the elections again, citing violence.

REUTERS, ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

BLOODY CARNAGE

'The whole building shook and when I ran out I saw bodies lying all around. There was flesh and blood everywhere and people were crying for help.'

MOHAMMAD ARSHAD, who works in a lawyer's office across the road from the blast