Bomber Killed Inside Mosque in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP)--A suicide attacker blew himself up in a Shiite Muslim mosque in a city near Pakistan’s capital on Saturday, Pakistani officials told The Associated Press. Army spokesman Gen. Shaukat Sultan said two people were injured in the blast, and the bomber was killed. The explosives went off prematurely, and the bomber was still a distance from worshippers inside the Yadgar-e-Hussein mosque when the blast occurred, said Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. The incident happened in Rawalpindi, a city adjacent to the capital, Islamabad. Ahmed said the explosives did not appear to be very powerful. Television pictures showed the bomber’s body amid broken glass in a hall at the mosque.
| I'll bet he wasn't wearing a mukluk. |
The attack occurred as Shiite Muslims were marking the holiday of Muharram. A separate prayer room at the mosque was packed with worshippers. Ahmed told AP that the situation was ``under control.’’ Muharram is a month of mourning when Shiite Muslims recall the seventh-century death of Hussein, grandson of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad. Most of Pakistan’s Sunni and Shiite Muslims live peacefully together, but small radical groups on both sides are responsible for frequent attacks. About 97 percent of Pakistan’s population is Muslim, and Sunnis outnumber Shiites by a ratio of about 8-to-2.
Next on the Islamic Calendar is the Holy Rite of Handgrenades on Horseback Bicycle. In this event, points are awarded based upon how many team members survive their own throws. As in the past, many of the awards will be posthumous. |