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More on the Ashura violence
At least 34 people were killed and more than 130 injured Thursday in Afghanistan and Pakistan in sectarian violence that coincided with a Muslim holy day especially revered among Shiites.In Iraq, the observance of the Ashura holiday was made remarkable by the absence of violence for the first time since the overthrow of President Saddam Hussein. The day's deadliest attacks occurred in Pakistan's North-West Frontier province, where hundreds of Shiites in the town of Hangu had turned out to participate in a procession marking Ashura, which commemorates the martyrdom in 680 of Hussein, grandson of the prophet Muhammad. Before sermons by local clerics could begin, at least one suicide bomber, who may have been disguised as a mourner, detonated his explosives, killing at least 27 people and wounding about 30, said an Interior Ministry official, Brig. Javed Cheema. Later in the day, it was reported that gunmen had opened fire on a bus just outside the town, killing four. "This was a blatant act of terrorism," Cheema said in a telephone interview from Islamabad. He noted that no group had asserted responsibility but that sectarian tensions have historically been high in the region. In the past few years, Shiites in Pakistan -- who are a minority -- have been the victims of frequent attacks thought to have been perpetrated by Sunni Muslim groups. In Afghanistan, where about 80 percent of the population is Sunni and instances of sectarian violence are far less common, at least three people were killed and more than 100 injured when a clash erupted between Shiites and Sunnis in the western city of Herat. Herat's police chief, Mohammed Ayoub Salangi, said the fight began when approximately 300 young Sunni demonstrators entered a Shiite mosque and accused worshipers gathered for Ashura services of burning a piece of cloth emblazoned with the name of Islam's second caliph, Umar, an important figure in the Sunni faith. A brawl ensued, with both sides using sticks, rocks and guns. Grenades were also reportedly thrown. Two hundred Afghan troops were deployed, and security forces fired shots into the air in a bid to quell the violence. Salangi said authorities were investigating how the Sunni demonstrators were able to organize so quickly. "There must be the hands of others behind this," he said. Samina Ahmed, South Asia project director for the International Crisis Group, blamed the violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan on governments that have not done enough to curb Sunni groups that target their fellow Muslims. "It's not just enough to take action against al Qaeda," Ahmed said in a telephone interview from Pakistan. "It's just as important to take the same kind of action against sectarian terrorists." Ahmed noted that while there have been more sectarian attacks in Pakistan than in Afghanistan in recent years, the Hazara ethnic group -- which is predominantly Shiite -- has faced persecution in Afghanistan for centuries. "It's nothing new for Afghanistan," she said. "It's always under the surface." President Hamid Karzai and religious leaders in Afghanistan appealed for calm, and a delegation of clerics was dispatched from Kabul on Thursday night to try to soothe tensions in Herat. "Our God is the same. Our Koran is the same. And our religion is the same," said Mulwi Enayatullah Balegh, a Sunni leader who delivers sermons at one of Kabul's largest mosques. "There are some minor differences to be discussed with the Shias, but they are not things that can be resolved through this kind of fighting." The sectarian violence came after three consecutive days of deadly riots in Afghanistan arising from the publication in European newspapers of cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. But the cartoon uproar was not thought to have played a direct role in Thursday's violence in Herat. There were no reported demonstrations related to the cartoons in Afghanistan on Thursday, a day after religious leaders called for an end to the protests, saying they were being hijacked by extremists. However, security in the capital, Kabul, was especially tight, and authorities here were bracing for the possibility of more protests Friday. By contrast, not a single attack on Shiite worshipers marred the day in Iraq. Ashura was banned in Iraq during Saddam Hussein's reign. Since the observance was resumed in 2004, the holy day has been jolted by bombings that have killed hundreds. In 2005, suicide bombers killed at least 60 people in the streets and in Shiite mosques. The year before, attacks killed at least 170 people. The only attack reported Thursday was a suicide car bombing in New Ubaydi, in Sunni-dominated western Iraq, which killed three Iraqi civilians and two Iraqi soldiers. Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, the spokesman for U.S. military in Iraq, said the relative tranquility was "a tribute to the Iraqi security forces." He said Iraqi soldiers and police had imposed tight security throughout the country, particularly in Karbala, the focal point of the holy day. In a raid this week, Iraqi troops detained 19 suspects who were apparently planning to conduct suicide attacks on Ashura observances, Lynch said. In Karbala, the provincial governor, Aqeel Khazaly, said that the government had forbidden outside vehicles to enter the city and that the streets were covered by "very strict" security consisting of public order police, special police commandos and Iraqi army soldiers. "This was a great accomplishment and a triumph over terrorists and terrorism," said Ali Kassim, a fisherman from the southeastern town of Amarah who had made the pilgrimage to Karbala. Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-02-10 |
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