| Follow-up from the late report yesterday. |
 At least 39 people were killed and more than 80 wounded when a suicide car bomb exploded at a rally for an assassinated militant religious leader in central Pakistan early Thursday, police said. The car exploded after being driven into a crowd of mourners at the overnight rally in the city of Multan to mark the first anniversary of the shooting of extremist Sunni religious leader Azam Tariq.
| Now they'll have even more to celebrate next year. With the appropriate festivities, of course... |
"It is believed a suicide bomber was at the wheel," Sikander Hayat, district police officer of Multan city, told Reuters.
| Brilliant, Sikander, how do you do it? |
The rally had concluded and people were dispersing in pre-dawn darkness when the blast ripped through the crowd, he said. "The moment people came out of the ground, a car came and hit them exploding into pieces," he said. At least 39 people were killed and 84 wounded, said Arif Sial, medical superintendent at Multan's main Nishat Hospital. One of the wounded, Qari Hafeez, described the scene from his hospital bed: "When we came out of the rally at around 4:30 in the morning, a car came at us with its lights on. It hit the people and exploded. After that, I don't know what happened."
| Very informative. I wish all witnesses supplied that sort of detail. |
The blast appeared to be the latest in a spate of the usual sectarian violence that has racked Pakistan in recent years and came after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a Shi'ite mosque in the eastern city of Sialkot on Oct. 2, killing 30 people. Hayat reported explosions within an interval of 20 seconds near the meeting ground in the Rasheedabad area of Multan, about 250 miles southwest of the capital, Islamabad.
Two bombs planted in a car and motorcycle exploded at a gathering of Sunni Muslim radicals in central Pakistan before dawn Thursday, killing at least 39 people and wounding about 100 others. Police suspected it was a sectarian attack.
"Legume! I suspect this is a sectarian attack!"
"Amazing, Inspector!" |
About 2,000 angry Sunnis gathered outside a hospital where victims of the explosions in the city of Multan were taken, shouting "Shiites are infidels!" and slogans against the government, witnesses said.
| Y'think one or the other of those attitudes might have had something to do with the booms? Think hard, now... |
The bombings came less than a week after a suicide attack left 31 dead at a Shiite mosque in an eastern city.
| "So, Legume, you see there is a chance — just a chance, mind you — that religious fanaticism and nutbaggery may be involved in the current boom as well..." |
About 3,000 people had gathered in a residential area of Multan to mark the anniversary of the death of the leader of the outlawed Sunni radical group Sipah-e-Sahaba killed in an attack last year. A car bomb exploded near the venue as people were starting to disperse after the overnight meeting, and two minutes later a second bomb attached to a motorcycle went off, deputy city police chief Arshad Hameed said. "It seems to be an act of sectarian terrorism, but we are still investigating," he told The Associated Press.
| "I mean, it could be somethin' else. Faulty carbeurators, jealous lovers, that sort of thing. Happens all the time, really..." |
Officials at the Nishtar government hospital said at least 39 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded, about 50 seriously. Some 50 others were treated for minor injuries and later discharged. Other people were taken to other clinics. Pools of blood and shoes of the victims were scattered at the scene, near the charred remains of the car. Jamil Usmani, 26, who had been standing in a nearby parking lot with friends, said a stampede after the bombing caused many injuries. "The explosion numbed our ears, we saw people falling on each other, everybody was crying, everybody was running," he said. "Many people were injured in the stampede, we started picking them up and asked passing cars for help."
| "Hey! Driver! Stop and help us here!... Uhhh... Is that dynamite?... C4, is it?... I think there's a parking place further down the street... No, not that one. There's a fireplug. They'll tow you. Further down... No, no! We're okay here..." |
Talat Mahmood Tariq, police chief for Multan region, said the car bomb, estimated to weigh about 15 pounds, was set off by remote control and most injuries were caused by flying metal from the vehicle. It did not appear to be a suicide attack because no body parts were found inside the car, Multan police chief Sikander Hayyat told the private Geo television network. Witnesses said the Sunni protesters who gathered outside the Nishtar hospital attacked two ambulances, shattering the windscreens with sticks.
| Oh, yes. That always helps... |
Nearby, others burned tires, casting a pall of black smoke. Inside the hospital, bloodied victims were crammed into an emergency ward, some lying two to a bed. The dozens of dead were placed side-by-side on the floor of another ward. Officials said about 1,000 police, including reservists, were called from other districts, and soldiers were patrolling the city to stop Sunni and Shiites from clashing. Multan has suffered sectarian violence in the past.
| ... much like they've found oil in Texas, in fact. |
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