25 January 2011 Last updated at 14:46 GMT
Lahore and Karachi blasts: Pakistani Shias targeted Injured police officer at site of suicide bombing in Lahore on 25 January 2011 TV pictures showed the injured in Lahore crying in pain, or in silent shock as they were carried away At least nine people taking part in a Shia Muslim procession in the Pakistani city of Lahore have been killed by a suicide bomb, police say. Three policemen were said to be among the dead, while 50 other people are injured, including women and children. Meanwhile, at least one policeman died in a motorcycle bomb in the southern city of Karachi near a Shia procession. The blasts happened despite beefed up security for gatherings by members of the country's minority Shia community. The bomber in Lahore struck as Shias marked the end of their holy month, Muharram, which commemorates the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson. Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told the BBC he expected the death toll to rise, following the explosion near the Bhatti gate in central Lahore. TV pictures showed the injured crying in pain, or in silent shock as they were carried away by emergency service workers. "It definitely appears to be a suicide attack," a senior police official told reporters at the scene of the Lahore attack. "A young boy tried to rush in and throw a bag into the crowd. When he was stopped, he blew himself up." The bomber was a 13-year-old boy, Lahore police chief Aslam Tarin told Reuters news agency. Another senior police official, Rao Sardar, told the AFP news agency that the bomber was a 16-year-old boy. Investigators are trying to cordon off the area to collect evidence. Details are still coming in on the motorcycle bombing near a Shia procession in Karachi, but at least one police officer has died. Pakistan has been hit by many bombings in recent years, many of them linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, or the allied Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group. A number of such attacks in recent years have occurred in Punjab province, and in particular Lahore. Sectarian violence has also persisted among hardline elements of Pakistan's Shia and majority Sunni communities, says the BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Karachi. ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
