Sunni-Shi’ite Jihad Update. “Pakistan: Riots erupt in Karachi after deadly bomb attack,” from AdnKronos International, December 28:
Karachi, 28 Dec. (AKI) – By Syed Saleem Shahzad – Riots erupted in the Pakistani port city of Karachi on Monday when a suicide attack killed at least 20 people and injured another 60 during a Shia Muslim procession to mark the Ashura festival. It was the third and largest attack on a Shia congregation in Pakistan in the past three days.
Hundreds of people had been part of the procession at the time of the bomb attack.
Immediately after the explosion, marchers turned their anger on security forces and emergency workers.
Pakistan’s security forces had been on high alert as Shia Muslims marked the holy month of Muharram or Ashura.
Shia Muslims began firing shots in the air and closed shops late Sunday when a bomb was planted near a small mourning procession in the centre of the southern city of Karachi, which is the largest industrial and the financial centre of the country.
Thousands of Shia faithful expressed their rage across the city after the latest attack on the largest mourning procession as it travelled on the city’s main artery, M.A. Jinnah Road, towards the largest Shia mourning centre, Husainya Iraniya.
Some started firing weapons in the air and set a market alight on the southern side of the city.
The market appeared to have been targeted because it belongs to Pashtun traders who are often branded as Taliban.
There were fears late in the day that the riots would spread across the city as young people took to the streets.
The attack on the mourning processions in Karachi began on Saturday when a bomb was planted in a car at the central district of the city.
On Sunday eight people were killed when a suicide bomber attacked a Shia march in Pakistan-administered Kashmir….