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| India-Pakistan |
| Rioting in Quetta |
| 2001-10-08 |
QUETTA, Pakistan - Mobs stormed this city by the Afghan border today, lobbing firebombs while chanting glory to Osama bin Laden and hatred for America. Police shot one man dead in the tear gas-shrouded confusion. In Peshawar, a pro-Taliban demonstrator was engulfed in fire while protesters burned a U.S. flag during protests against the sirstrikes. The demonstrator was taken to a hospital, and his present condition is unknown. From daybreak to late afternoon, in a huge rally downtown and in street-corner clusters, Muslims shouted support for Afghanistan's Taliban leadership. Compared with the scattered and sporadic protests elsewhere in the country, this was the worst sustained unrest to hit Pakistan over Sunday's U.S.-British attacks. Thousands surged through the streets in running skirmishes with police, setting ablaze the U.N. Children's Fund compound, the central police station, movie theaters, a bank and other buildings in the city of 800,000. At least six rioters suffered bullet wounds and 24 others were injured by police batons or tear gas canisters, doctors at Civil Hospital said. Two officers also were hospitalized. Tear gas hung over parts of Quetta, and gunfire echoed across the old city as police fired repeatedly into the air. Columns of smoke were visible in every direction. Two fire trucks were torched in the street. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |