Mosque bombing causes at least 18 dead
Islamabad (AsiaNews/Agencies) Javed Cheema, head of Pakistan's national crisis management cell, confirmed that at least 18 people died in a explosion that occurred around 11:20 am (+5 GMT) at the Bari Imam Shrine, a place sacred for Muslims. The blast also caused "an unknown number of wounded," he said.
Hundreds of pilgrims, mostly Shiites, had gathered at the shrine to commemorate the death of the 'holy man'. Sunnis had come to the shrine in previous days.
An eyewitness said that "a man came in and I think he blew himself up".
The Bari Imam shrine is close to Pakistan's main government offices and Islamabad's diplomatic quarter, which houses the embassies of many countries.
In February, the shrine's custodian, a Sunni, was killed in an ambush that left two other men dead.
Both Sunnis and Shiites claim the shrine but in the last 20 years it has been in Sunni hands.
Sectarian violence between Pakistani Sunnis (80 per cent of the population) and Shiites (20 per cent) started in the late 1970s following the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
US and Saudi support for the anti-Soviet struggle in Afghanistan helped spread Sunni extremism to Pakistan. For its part, the Iranian revolution had ripple effects among Pakistani Shiites.
The repressive policies of the late President Zia ul-Haq further added fuel to the already burning fires of religious extremism.
More than 4,000 people have died since sectarian violence began.
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