herreb
03-04-2011, 20:12
Eenenveertig mensen zijn vandaag omgekomen bij een zelfmoordaanslag in een soefische tempel in de stad Dera Ghazi Khan in Centraal-Pakistan, meldt Reuters. Minstens zeventig mensen zijn gewond geraakt. Het ging om twee ontploffingen, aldus een politiefunctionaris.
De aanslag zal “veel woede opwekken”, stelt Aljazeera correspondent Kamal Hyder, omdat “wederom vrouwen, kinderen en gewone burgers het slachtoffer zijn”.
Het gaat om een tempel bij het graf van de dertiende-eeuwse soefische heilige Ahmed Sultan, ook bekend als Sakhi Sarwa, meldt AFP.
In de tempel was een driedaags festival gaande met duizenden aanwezigen ter ere van de heilige.
Het is de vijfde zelfmoordaanslag in vijf dagen, telt AFP. In de afgelopen drieëneenhalf jaar zijn in Pakistan bijna 4.200 mensen omgekomen bij meer dan 450 aanslagen, merendeels zelfmoord, gepleegd door Pakistaanse Talibaan. De Talibaan hebben het met name gemunt op de gematigde soefi’s.
http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2011/04/03/ontploffingen-in-soefische-tempel-in-pakistan/
Deadly blasts rock Pakistan city
More than 40 people have been killed in at least two suicide bombings near the central Pakistani city of Dera Ghazi Khan.
The blasts went off on Sunday at the Sakhi Sarwar shine, leaving up to 100 people injured.
"We have recovered 41 bodies so far," Zahid Hussain Shah told the AFP news agency from the scene of the blasts.
"The attackers came on foot and blew themselves up when police on duty stopped them," he said.
The Pakistani Taliban later claimed responsibility for the attack.
Shrine threatened
A police official, requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said the shrine had received threats from unidentified hard-line fighters.
Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from the Pakistani capital Islamabad, said the attacks are going to "cause considerable anger because, once again, the victims are women and children and ordinary people".
"There were three attackers: two of them blew themselves up; the third was arrested," he said.
"They entered the shrine from the back. There was an annual gathering ... tens of thousands people normally go to these shrines ... and therefore there was a large number of ordinary people."
Sufi shrines have been the scene of attacks in the past in Pakistan, where many hard-line fighters believe visiting shrines is against the spirit of Islam.
More than 4,150 people have been killed in suicide attacks and bomb explosions, blamed on homegrown Taliban and other groups, since government troops stormed a mosque in Islamabad in July 2007.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/04/201143135459413814.html
De aanslag zal “veel woede opwekken”, stelt Aljazeera correspondent Kamal Hyder, omdat “wederom vrouwen, kinderen en gewone burgers het slachtoffer zijn”.
Het gaat om een tempel bij het graf van de dertiende-eeuwse soefische heilige Ahmed Sultan, ook bekend als Sakhi Sarwa, meldt AFP.
In de tempel was een driedaags festival gaande met duizenden aanwezigen ter ere van de heilige.
Het is de vijfde zelfmoordaanslag in vijf dagen, telt AFP. In de afgelopen drieëneenhalf jaar zijn in Pakistan bijna 4.200 mensen omgekomen bij meer dan 450 aanslagen, merendeels zelfmoord, gepleegd door Pakistaanse Talibaan. De Talibaan hebben het met name gemunt op de gematigde soefi’s.
http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2011/04/03/ontploffingen-in-soefische-tempel-in-pakistan/
Deadly blasts rock Pakistan city
More than 40 people have been killed in at least two suicide bombings near the central Pakistani city of Dera Ghazi Khan.
The blasts went off on Sunday at the Sakhi Sarwar shine, leaving up to 100 people injured.
"We have recovered 41 bodies so far," Zahid Hussain Shah told the AFP news agency from the scene of the blasts.
"The attackers came on foot and blew themselves up when police on duty stopped them," he said.
The Pakistani Taliban later claimed responsibility for the attack.
Shrine threatened
A police official, requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said the shrine had received threats from unidentified hard-line fighters.
Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from the Pakistani capital Islamabad, said the attacks are going to "cause considerable anger because, once again, the victims are women and children and ordinary people".
"There were three attackers: two of them blew themselves up; the third was arrested," he said.
"They entered the shrine from the back. There was an annual gathering ... tens of thousands people normally go to these shrines ... and therefore there was a large number of ordinary people."
Sufi shrines have been the scene of attacks in the past in Pakistan, where many hard-line fighters believe visiting shrines is against the spirit of Islam.
More than 4,150 people have been killed in suicide attacks and bomb explosions, blamed on homegrown Taliban and other groups, since government troops stormed a mosque in Islamabad in July 2007.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/04/201143135459413814.html