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| Afghanistan/South Asia | |
| Eight dead in Pakistan mosque attack | |
| 2005-10-08 | |
| MONG, Pakistan - Masked gunmen with Kalashnikov rifles stormed into a mosque belonging to a minority Muslim sect in Pakistan Friday, shooting dead eight people and wounding 14, the interior minister and police said. Members of the Ahmadi community reciting dawn prayers on the second day of Ramadan in Mong, a suburb of Mandi Bahauddin town, 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Islamabad, were attacked by three men on a motorbike. âEight people are dead and 14 injured,â Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao told AFP. âWe condemn this attack. Any act of violence in which innocent people are killed should be condemned.â Sherpao said he had issued orders to further tighten security at places of worship. Pakistan has been on alert since the start of Ramadan, which has traditionally seen a surge in attacks. Area police chief Ziaullah Niazi said two masked men entered the mosque and âcalmly sprayed bullets at people standing in two rows for morning prayers.â The head of the mosque, Sadiq Hussain Sherazi, said he was leading the prayers when he heard the âcracking sound of gunfire and I immediately threw myself on the floor.â Rights groups say the Ahmadi sect, which is also known as Qadiani and has tens of thousands of members, has been long been persecuted in Pakistan and has remained an occasional target of sectarian attacks. Founded by Ghulam Ahmad, who was born in 1838, it has a number of unique views including that Ahmad himself was a prophet and that Jesus died aged 120 in Srinagar, capital of Indiaâs zone of the divided territory of Kashmir. Ahmadi leaders said their members in Mong had recently received threats and blamed some local newspapers for stirring up hatred against the group, but vowed not to take revenge. âRather we will remain peaceful,â Rashid Zahid, spokesman for the groupâs head council, told AFP.
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| Posted by:Steve White |