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44 killed as suicide-bomber, gunmen strike at Pak. mosque

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

A person injured in an attack at a mosque in Quetta, Pakistan, on Friday being taken to hospital. --AFP

ISLAMABAD July 4. Forty - four people were killed and 30 injured when a suicide-bomber and two other killers struck inside a mosque in the centre of the capital city of Baluchistan, Quetta.

Reports suggest that the suicide-bomber blew himself up as hundreds gathered for the weekly `jumma' prayers. Two bearded men fired on worshippers before the bomber blew himself up. There are conflicting reports about the fate of the two gunmen. Some say that they also blew themselves up.

A witness has been quoted on television channels as saying that two suicide-bombers entered the mosque before setting off explosives, while the Information Minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, said there were three attackers.

The incident sent shock waves in the city and there were reports of unrest. Angry crowds of Hazara Shias, some of them armed and firing shots in the air, took to the streets and gathered outside the hospital where the bodies were taken. Vehicles, shops and a wing of the hospital were set ablaze.

The Pakistan Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan, who landed in the town just before the incident, sought the Army's help to meet any eventuality.

Crowds began to disperse after paramilitary troops used loudspeakers to announce a curfew.

This is the second major incident during the year targeting the Shia community. In the last incident, nine persons were killed as unidentified gunmen fired indiscriminately at a mosque in the port city of Karachi in February. Police believe that it is a sectarian attack. Baluchistan, in general, and Quetta, in particular, had been relatively free from either sectarian or other terrorist incidents witnessed in other parts of Pakistan, particularly since the decision of the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, to align with the U.S.-led coalition against terrorism.

Gen. Musharraf, in Paris on an official visit, condemned the violence and vowed to punish the perpetrators. The incident took place while he was addressing a news conference to round off his 18-day trip abroad.

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