The New Year Celeberated with the strike in pakistan after the Bomb blast attack in karachi on the Religious Rally of Ashura. it was the reaction

Angry mob set ablaze vehicles to protest bomb blast that ripped through Karachi’s main religious procession, killing at least 20 people.


Geo TV reports this morning that angry mob has burnt down Light House building situated at the MA Jinnah Road, Karachi's main corridor to business center. Another TV reports showed several burnt down vehicles parked around the city court.


People are stranded in the building, which was set on fire. There are also reports of unrest at different parts of the city.

Meanwhile, provincial Home Minister Dr Zulfikar Mirza early morningTuesday said yesterday's bomb blasts was aimed at triggering ethnic strife in the city but people foiled this conspiracy.

Addressing a press conference Tuesday morning (it is early Tuesday morning in Karachi), the minister said that the blasts were carried out by helmet wearing terrorists riding on three motorcycles.

The Sindh Home Minister said a team is investigating the cause of the blasts under the supervision of DIG Saud Mirza and four suspects have been apprehended and are being interrogated.

Home Minister said that so far no police official has been suspended, but in case any evidence of negligence on the part of concerned police officials comes to the fore, action will be taken against them.


Southern port city of Pakistan, Karachi has a long history of sectarian violence between Shias and Sunnis. There have been numerous attacks on such processions across the country over the last few days.

On Sunday, eight people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted a Shia march in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.


Interior Minister Rehman Malik blamed Monday's blast on extremists who wanted to destabilise Pakistan. "Whoever has done this, he cannot be a Muslim. He is worse than an infidel," he told reporters.

Riots erupted in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi yesterday after a suicide bomber attacked a Shia religious procession, killing at least 30 people in the latest sectarian atrocity.

More than 50,000 Shias, 15 per cent of Pakistan’s population, marched through the city whipping themselves to mark the holy day of Ashura.

The bomber managed to get into the procession despite the presence of more than 10,000 paramilitary troops. The attacker blew himself up at the front of the procession in the city centre.

Witnesses and police said that the streets were strewn with body parts. Women and children were among the dead and about 60 people were injured in the attack.

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“The blast was so huge that I felt my hearing had gone but then I started hearing cries of injured people and saw pieces of human flesh and blood on the road,” said Abbas Ali, 35, one of the Shias thrown to the ground. “Some were crying and some were running here and there with panicked faces. My younger brother was with me. I looked for him and was told he was injured and was sent to hospital.”

The procession, commemorating the death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson in the 7th century, is held every year on Ashura, the tenth day of the Islamic holy month of Muharram. Shias traditionally wear black, beat their torsos with chains and slice their skin with knives.

A spokesman for the paramilitary Rangers said that one of their members was killed when he tried to stop the bomber. “Our soldier Abdul Razzaq spotted the suicide bomber and jumped on him. Both fell to the road after which the bomber exploded,” Major Muhammad Aurangzeb said.

“If Razzaq had not captured the bomber, he could have caused more casualties,” Major Aurangzeb said, adding that the soldier was killed in the blast.

Police later found the body of the suicide bomber on the third floor of a nearby office building, where it had crashed through a window. About 35lb (16kg) of high explosives were used, a bomb disposal officer said. The Karachi police chief, Waseem Ahmad, said that the force was investigating the possibility that a second suicide bomber was involved in the attack. Mourners set fire to dozens of vehicles and buildings and clashed with police. Gunfire was heard as riots spread into the outskirts of Karachi.

Mustafa Kamal, the Mayor of Karachi, said that the attack was an attempt to disturb the peace in the country’s commercial and financial hub. No one claimed responsibility but police suspected Islamic militants.

Yusuf Raza Gilani, the Pakistani Prime Minister, condemned the bombing and appealed for calm. It was the third attack on Ashura commemorations in the country this week. Seven people were killed in a suicide bombing in Kashmir on Sunday and 17 wounded in Karachi on the same day.

Yesterday’s attack was the deadliest in Karachi since a suicide bomber targeted the homecoming of the former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated two months later. At least 139 people were killed in the assassination attempt in October 2007.