Terror sends Gen a reminder: 25 killed

Local Geo TV reported that 25 people were killed though 19 were confirmed dead by hospital sources. Among the 67 injured, the condition of five was stated to be serious. State-run PTV put the death toll at 14.

Eyewitness accounts said a powerful bomb was detonated by a person in the crowded compound of the shrine, devoted to Sufi saint Shah Abdul Latheef Khazmi and frequented by worshippers from both Shia and Sunni communities.

President Pervez Musharraf condemned the blast, terming it as a ‘‘terrorist act.’’

‘‘I was shocked to hear about the blast. I am very angry at the terrorist act,’’ said Musharraf who was on a visit to Karachi.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed tonight said that officials had identified the suicide bomber and a red alert had been sounded to track his accomplices.

Just hours after the blast at the shrine, which is in the village of Nurpur north of Islamabad, thousands of Pakistanis rallied across the country to protest the alleged desecration of Koran by US interrogators at the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The rallies were organised by hardline Islamic alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).

Police cordoned off the shrine and blocked access roads after the blast. Television footage showed devotees wailing and beating themselves amid scenes of chaos after the bombing.

No one claimed responsibility for the blast.

Both Sunnis and Shias claim that the shrine is theirs but it has been controlled by Sunnis for the past two decades. Its Sunni custodian Raja Akram and two other people were shot dead by gunmen near the compound in February.

The government declared emergency in the main hospitals at Rawalpindi and Islamabad to treat the injured.

After the blast, angry survivors clashed with police, protesting lack of security at the shrine. Police used lathicharge and tear gas to disperse the protesters, Geo TV reported.

A large number of devotees from all over Pakistan had come to the shrine for the annual festival of Bari Imam which came to a close. Hundreds had also gathered at the shrine to attend the Friday prayers.

Police suspected that the blast could have been caused by extremist groups trying to provoke sectarian clashes between majority Sunni and minority Shia communities.

Musharraf has banned several militant groups which indulged in sectarian warfare, like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Tehrik Jaffiriya.

—(Press Trust of India)