by Jibran Kahn

A remote-control bomb blew up at the end of a football match. Children ranging in age between 6 and 15 were among the dead. A provincial minister was the probable target. For Bishop Rufin Anthony, Pakistan is paying a "heavy price for the war on terror." He appeals to the new government to deal with the violence and the economic crisis.

Karachi (AsiaNews) - Today's bombing is a "terrible" event that "we condemn with the utmost resolve and rigour" because it affects "the population of Karachi, which has already suffered a lot," said Mgr Rufin Anthony, bishop of Islamabad/Rawalpindi, as he reacted to the episode of violence that earlier today hit southern Pakistan's main city.

This morning, a bomb exploded near a football field in Lyari, Karachi, just as a match was winding down, killing at least 11 people, including several children, and wounding 26 others. The bomb was inside a motorcycle and was activated by remote control.

So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, which struck mainly young people between the ages of 6 and 15 years who had come to watch the match.

According to some observers, the bomb's apparent target was Jawaid Nagori, a Sindh provincial minister, who was slightly injured in the blast, but there is no official confirmation.

Ameer Ali, one of the people wounded, said that the blast occurred shortly after the match, when people were "leaving" the field. People "started running in panic," he explained, and several people "were struck" by shrapnel. The car of a provincial official was destroyed along with other cars in the area.

Hospital sources said that some of the dead were children, some still wearing their sport outfit.

"We are facing a new, tragic reality," the bishop of Islamabad told AsiaNews, which "we condemn with the utmost resolve."

For Mgr Rufin Anthony, these acts are part of "a plot that undermines the peace" in a country that is increasingly "victimised by terrorism" and is paying at a "high price for the war on terror."

Expressing solidarity with the "population of Karachi, who have already suffered a lot," he appealed to the government to meet the "enormous challenges of terrorism, sectarian violence and economic crisis. These are hard times and the nation must be united against terror".

Fr John James, from the Archdiocese of Lahore, noted that this is the "bloodiest" year in Karachi, hit by a wave of violence that cost "thousands of innocent lives." Calling the killing of innocent people a "cowardly act", he urged everyone to "pray for peace."

With more 13 million residents, Karachi is Pakistan's biggest city. It is also an explosive mixture of criminal gangs, landlords, drug traffickers, communal violence, political rivalries and Islamic fundamentalism.

Although murders linked to sectarian factors are only 20 of the total according to police, human rights activists and associations complain that both federal and local authorities have done very little or nothing to break the divisions and end the violence.

Back in March, during the election campaign, a bomb exploded in the district of Abbas Town, killing 45 people and destroying several buildings.

With a population of over 180 million people (97 per cent Muslim), Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world and the second Muslim nation after Indonesia. Just under 80 per cent are Sunni Muslim, and 20 per cent are Shia. Hindus are around 1.85 per cent; Christians are 1.6 per cent and Sikhs 0.04 per cent.

Violence against ethnic or religious minorities is commonplace across the country, from the province of Punjab in the north to Karachi in the southern province of Sindh, where more than 2,200 people were killed in the first eight months of 2012.

• pakistan
• karachi
• lyari
• football
• field
• blast
• death
• injuries