Sunni suspects die in gun battle
Two suspected militants have blown themselves up in the Pakistani city of Quetta after a gun battle with the police, officials say. The police said the militants belonged to the outlawed Sunni group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. They were planning to attack a Shia mourning procession when the police raided their hideout, officials said. Pakistan has a long history of sectarian violence between majority Sunni and minority Shia Muslims. More than 4,000 people have died in Shia-Sunni clashes since 1980. A senior police official said the unidentified militants were possibly planning attacks on local Shias. "We think these two men were from Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and they were planning attacks against Shiites," police official Mohammed Shahban told the Associated Press news agency.
Posted by: Steve 2005-02-18 |