Suicide bombing kills 19 in Pakistan capital

At least 19 persons, mostly policemen, were killed in a suicide bombing near a huge gathering in the heart of Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad Sunday evening.

A congregation of different religious groups, Martyrs Conference, was going on near Melody Chowk in Islamabad to commemorate the victims of the last year's military operation in which several seminary students were killed along with one of the administrators of Jamia Hafsa seminary adjacent to Lal (Red) Mosque. The operation was conducted to purge the seminary of militants who had taken refuge there. The administrators of the seminary had warned the government an unending series of suicide blasts and their threat proved true to a large extent during the past one year.

Nearly one-and-a-half dozen injured were rushed to different hospitals of Islamabad and emergency was declared in all the medical facilities of the city.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Police officials have so far confirmed seven deaths, however, unconfirmed reports put the death toll at 15.

Police officials said that blast occurred just 700 yards away from the gathering. They said that at least 40 policemen were present at the site of the blast. The killed policemen included head of Sihala police station near Islamabad.

Eyewitnesses said that human organs and flesh was scattered all around the site of the blast. They said that gathering had nearly concluded and the policemen had got somewhat relaxed when the blast occurred.

The capital police chief said that they put the force on high alert because they feared sabotage act and unfortunately the same happened.

A blast had also killed several police officials on July 27 last year when the mosque was opened after the much-criticised military operation.

President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani immediately condemned the sabotage act in the capital and said that it was an act of the enemies of humanity. They directed the concerned authorities to provide the best medical treatment to the injured. President Musharraf also ordered constitution of a committee to probe into the incident.