Word: karachi
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Pakistan was rocked on Monday, Dec. 28, by a vicious suicide bombing that killed at least 32 people and injured almost twice as many amid a major annual mourning procession of the country's minority Shi'ites in the heart of Karachi, the largest city and commercial center in the nation. As the death toll mounts, the country's political leaders have united in their condemnation of the attack. It was the third such assault in Karachi in as many days, crushing the city's hopes of evading the current wave of bombings, deepening fears of further sectarian attacks...
...chilling scenes, television footage captured the moment that the bomber struck. A tightly packed crowd, dressed in black and holding banners aloft, solemnly shuffled down one of Karachi's main roads. Some performed the matam, beating their chests as they mourned the death of Imam Hussain, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, who was killed in 680 A.D. in the Iraqi city of Karbala. On all four sides, well-armed policemen and paramilitary guards surrounded the marchers. But even beefed-up security measures were unable to thwart the bomber, who blew himself up near the back of the crowd. After...
...drained ordinary people's faith in the government. In its place, there is now raw anger. After ambulances rushed the dead and wounded to hospitals, some of the marchers defiantly continued. Less patient ones lashed out at government officials and journalists in the area, local media reported. Across Karachi, large buildings and more than 15 cars were torched. The fear is now that the city may see more such attacks and tit-for-tat reprisals. "I want to appeal to the people, to my brothers, my elders, to stay calm," said Mustafa Kamal, the city's mayor. "I am hearing...
...tribal areas along the Afghan border, Baluchistan province's capital of Quetta, Dera Ismail Khan in the northwest, and parts of Punjab have been among the areas scarred by anti-Shi'ite attacks. The latest bombing will call attention to the Taliban's long-standing but murky presence in Karachi. Until this past week, they have resisted mounting attacks in the city, preferring to use the sprawling metropolis as a base for recruiting, smuggling weapons and racketeering for funds. Now there is fear that the city's Pashtun-speaking communities (where the Taliban find refuge) may come into conflict with...
...Pakistani officials say that following a tip-off by the FBI, they began tracking the five men as soon as they landed in Karachi in late November. They then allegedly traveled to the city of Hyderabad and finally to Sargodha, 120 miles south of Islamabad. "We wanted to see who they were meeting, whether it was Taliban or Lashkar or Jaish," says an official who asked not to be named. (Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad are among several terrorist groups active in Punjab province...