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Suicide bombing kills 19 in Pakistan capital

by hussain | July 6, 2008 at 06:14 am

441 views | 9 Recommendations | 7 comments

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.

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recommend This comment thread is now closed

Jordan Yerman

at 06:47 on July 6th, 2008

hussain, thanks for getting this story out so quickly. It will now show up on the home page for four hours. If new developments justify it, I'll renew this flag for another cycle.

Jordan Yerman

at 07:54 on July 6th, 2008

Another update:

The blast occurred in front of a police station near the city's Melody Market.

It came on the first anniversary of the bloody ending of a siege at the city's Red Mosque, in which more than 100 people were killed during fighting.

The mosque was stormed by Pakistani troops to evict militants who had taken sanctuary within its complex.

There are conflicting reports regarding the death toll, with some officials saying as many as a 10 policemen may have been killed in the blast.

khan26

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 10:07 on July 6th, 2008

hussain, I like this story. It's good stuff.

khan26

at 10:18 on July 6th, 2008

This incident shows that the extremist wants to create instability and chaos so as to weaken the government and make it submit to it demands.The government should not submit to their blackmail and must do it best to uproot these elements through better intelligence work and efficient use of fire power where necessary.The writ of the state should be established at all cost through out Pakistan.