Quetta anti-Shia bombing: Pakistan police detain '170'

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Pakistani police say they have arrested 170 suspects after a bomb attack on Saturday which targeted a Shia Muslim area in the western city of Quetta.

Security sources said police killed four people, including a bomb-maker accused of anti-Shia attacks.

Saturday's bomb ripped through a busy market district, killing almost 90 people and injuring some 169 more.

Relatives of the dead are refusing to bury the bodies in protest at what they say is a lack of official action.

The authorities have previously been accused of turning a blind eye to the killing of members of the Shia minority.

Security crackdown

In January bombers targeted a snooker hall in the city, killing some 90 Shia people, sparking a similar protest by relatives of those killed.

Now both the security forces and the political leadership appear to be cracking down, the BBC's Orla Guerin reports from Islamabad.

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has ordered an operation aimed at "eliminating those responsible for playing with innocent lives".

But some wonder if there will be sustained action against hard-line Saudi-funded militant groups which were supported by Pakistan's intelligence agencies in the past, our correspondent reports.

Shia Muslim Hazaras are furious at what they see as a lack of protection from local and national forces, in the face of repeated attacks.

Saudi-funded militant group Laskhar-e-Jhangvi said it had carried out the bombing, which hit a largely Hazara area of Quetta.

One local Shia leader, Qayyum Changezi, told AFP on Monday that the protesters would "not bury the dead until a targeted operation is launched".

It is not yet clear whether Tuesday's police action will be enough to persuade the community to end the protests.

Strikes and protests have been reported elsewhere in the country since the bombing, including in the commercial capital, Karachi.

Deadly 2013

In a similar attack on January 10, a twin bomb explosion at a crowded billiard hall killed more than 90 people, mostly Shia Muslims, in Quetta, which is the capital of Balochistan province. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi said it carried out the bombing.

Shias make up about 20 percent of Pakistan’s population of over 180 million.

On Sunday, Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfikar Magsi - given greater powers after the recent blasts - said local security forces were either "too scared or too clueless" to act.

He said he had given security forces a "free hand" to take action against extremist groups, but that this had clearly failed.

"It's their job to pre-empt such attacks. That's what they are paid for," he said.

Quetta is the capital of Balochistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, and has been plagued by a separatist rebellion as well as sectarian violence.

Hundreds of Shia Hazaras in Quetta have been killed in attacks over the past few years.

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