A suicide bomber struck outside the venue of a lawyers rally here on Tuesday, killing 16 people and injuring at least 63, including 10 police officials, according to hospital sources. The powerful blast went off at about 8:27pm outside the main entrance of the corridor leading to the venue of the event in F-8 Markaz, shortly before Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was to pass through the site to give a speech to lawyers of the Islamabad District Bar Association.The site was littered with body parts and blood, and at least 13 people died at the scene. Ambulances rushed the injured to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and Federal Government Services Hospital, the two major government hospitals of the city. Nine of the injured are in critical condition.
The site was 40 metres away from the main stage where hundreds of supporters of the Pakistan PeopleÂ’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had set up camps to welcome the chief justice. The blast occurred within the PPP camp and many of the dead, including three women, were activists of the party.
The chief justice later arrived at the site with his team of lawyers. Initial reports suggested they planned to go ahead with the function. However, the chief justice postponed the speech, after offering prayers for the dead and injured and calling for a nationwide strike on Wednesday in protest at the blast. The rally was the latest in a series, which have drawn tens of thousands of Justice ChaudhryÂ’s supporters around the country. An emergency was declared at all hospitals in Islamabad, including the nearby PIMS, where 10 charred bodies and over two dozen injured were taken. Two unidentified dead bodies and three injured people were brought to the Federal Government Services Hospital.
The Pakistan Bar Council and Supreme Court Bar Association held an emergency meeting in the Supreme Court that was still continuing when this story was filed. State Minister for Information Tariq Azeem said the incident was a suicide attack and the head of the suicide bomber had been found. “It is a very unfortunate one and deplorable. However, it is too early to say anything about the target and motive behind this attack,” he said.
The minister said that security had been tightened in the capital after warnings of more suicide attacks. “The security agencies have cordoned off the scene and started investigations,” he added. Security agencies have warned of the possibility of more attacks in the capital, claiming that a number of suicide attackers had entered the city a few days ago.
Geo News quoted witnesses as saying the suicide bomber pulled up at the scene on a motorcycle. Azeem said the reports were being investigated but nothing could be said definitively till the investigations are complete. Earlier, Islamabad Inspector General of Police Iftikhar Chaudhry and Chief Commissioner Khalid Pervez confirmed that the blast was a suicide attack. They said one indication that it was a suicide blast was that there was no crater left at the site. “At least 12 people were killed and around 40 wounded in the blast,” Pervez had said earlier. The blast came days before the Supreme Court is expected to decide the chief justice’s petition challenging his suspension and the presidential reference against him.
There was no immediate indication of who carried out the attack or whether it was linked to a spate of bombings and suicide attacks in the NWFP and tribal areas in recent days that have been blamed on religious extremists.
Agencies add: “I heard a huge bang and thought it was an electrical blast, but then I saw so many injured and dead people,” said PML-N worker Malik Shuja, who had bloodstains over his shalwar kameez. “The injured were crying ‘Help us!’ We put four people into each ambulance, not only on stretchers but also on the floor.”