Pakistan PM urges calm after deadly Karachi bombings

 

Footage shows the moment when the second blast occurred

news.bbc.co.uk

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has appealed for calm after two bombings in the city of Karachi killed 25 people and injured dozens more.

The attacks – the second at a hospital where victims of the first attack were being treated – targeted Shia pilgrims.

A period of mourning is due to begin, amid fears of growing tensions between Shia and Sunni Muslims.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Pakistan is home to al-Qaeda-linked Sunni militant groups.

The first of Friday’s blasts – caused by a motorbike laden with explosives targeting a bus carrying Shias to a religious procession – killed 12 people.

Then, another bomb exploded outside the entrance to the emergency ward of the hospital where the victims of the first attack were being treated. At least 13 people were killed in that attack.

The bombings happened in spite of tight security across Pakistan as Shias marked the end of the Arbaeen religious festival, with Friday the final and most important day of 40 days of mourning for the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson. Read more…

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