Car Bomb Martyrs 20 Shiites in Northwest Pakistan

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - A car bomb ripped through a crowded market in a Pakistani tribal region bordering Afghanistan on Monday, killing 20 Shiite Muslims in the latest instance of sectarian violence to rock this country, officials said.

Witnesses and political administration officials said an explosives-laden white car parked at the busy Kashmir Chowk, exploded, killing two people on the spot while others martyred at or on the way to hospital.

Government official Sahibzada Anis gave the death toll and said 76 other people were wounded in the blast in the town of Parachinar in the Kurram region — the only region along the Afghan border that is majority Shiite. It has seen bloody outbreaks of sectarian violence in recent years. Another government official, Naseer Khan, said all of the dead were Shiite Muslims.

Some of the dead were identified as Syed Gul Agha, Sharif Hussain, Irshad Hussain, Salman Ali, Muntazir Hussain, Shahid Hussain, Hedayat Hussain, Muhammad, Hayat Ali and Syed Sajjad Hussain. Bodies of other victims, including a woman, were mutilated beyond recognition.

The blast was so powerful that it destroyed 30 shops and badly damaged 100 others. It also destroyed the boundary wall of a women’s hospital and gutted six vehicles. Political Agent Syed Shahab Ali Shah told journalists that over 50 kilograms of explosives had been used in the explosion. He said that mortars and rockets had been packed together with explosives to make the blast more deadly and destructive and to increase its lethality.

“The busy Kashmir Chowk was chosen for the blast. There is hustle and bustle all day as general stores, barber shops, sweet shops, chicken shops, vegetable and fruit stalls are situated there,” he said.

The bombing also knocked down a high transmission electricity line.

Soon after the blast, local people, Levies’ personnel and workers of NGOs rushed the place and took the dead and the injured to hospital in private vehicles and ambulances.

Javed Hussain, a witness, said he saw body parts of the victims scattered all over the Chowk. The injured were crying for help as smoke enveloped the entire area and fire hindered rescue work.

All the dead and injured people were taken to DHQ Hospital in Parachinar, where an emergency was declared.

The emergence over the last 10 years in Pakistan of extremist groups such as al-Qaida and the Pakistani Taliban has added to the frequency and viciousness of attacks against Shiites.

In February, a suicide attacker on a motorcycle blew himself up in Parachinar, killing 23 Shiite Muslims and wounding 50 people.

Many of the recent sectarian killings in Pakistan have been blamed on the militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which is allied with al-Qaida and the Taliban.

A court released the founder of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi on bail Monday, about a week and a half after he was arrested because of a speech he made that authorities said incited sectarian hatred, said police officer Ejaz Shafi. Bail was set at 500,000 rupees, about $5,280, Shafi said.

Police also arrested the founder, Malik Ishaq, in 1997, and he was accused in more than 200 criminal cases involving the killing of 70 Shiites. But the prosecution could never prove the charges, in part because of witness and judge intimidation, and he went free in 2011.

Also Monday, a radical prayer leader in Islamabad and 19 others were acquitted in the 2007 killing of a security officer, the cleric's lawyer said.

Pakistani courts have a notoriously low record of convictions when it comes to terrorism cases. Police often lack basic investigative skills such as the ability to lift fingerprints, and prosecutors lack training to try terror cases. Judges and witnesses often are subject to intimidation that affects the ability to convict.

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