PAKISTAN: Pakistan suffered one of its worst terrorist incidents when suicide-bombers killed at least 44 minority Shia Muslims and injured at least 65 during Friday prayers at a mosque in the city of Quetta.
Gen Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's ruler, said that the attack was aimed at undermining Pakistani society. The bombing came as a reminder of the country's inability to stamp out home-grown and foreign-inspired terrorist groups.
Two bombers with explosives strapped to their bodies blew themselves up at the city's main Shia mosque. A third was shot and injured by security guards. Yesterday evening emergency workers put the death toll at 44.
The victims were members of Pakistan's minority Hazara Shia community, which is also a minority in Afghanistan. Shias, who account for about 15 per cent of Pakistan's 140 million people, are regarded as outsiders by much of Pakistan's majority Sunni community.
Gen Musharraf, on a visit to France, said: "It is unfortunate that some elements in Pakistan are undermining what Pakistan stands for."
The president, who since the September 11th attacks has become a pivotal ally of the US in its war on al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, banned Pakistan's leading Sunni and Shia terrorist groups in June 2001, three months before the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York.
Yesterday's attack was believed to have been carried out by Sipha-e-Sahaba, a radical Sunni group banned by Gen Musharraf and sponsored by Afghanistan's former Taliban regime.
Many Taliban leaders are believed to be hiding in the border province of Baluchistan, of which Quetta is capital.
Islamabad has helped to capture or hand over more than 500 al-Qaeda operatives in the past 18 months.
Gen Musharraf has repeatedly told the international community that Pakistan has terrorism under control, but government officials in Islamabad yesterday warned that the attack in Baluchistan, and other recent incidents in the province, appear to be aimed at provoking fresh political uncertainty in Pakistan.
Relations between Gen Musharraf and Pakistan's growing Islamist parties, which in October gained control of Baluchistan and North-West Frontier Province in widely criticised elections, are strained after he warned against the dangers of introducing "Taliban-style" rule in the two provinces. Both parties are hardline Sunni.
Gen Musharraf's remarks followed efforts by the government of the North-West Frontier Province to introduce strict Islamic law. "These incidents of violence could potentially weaken the government's position just when Gen Musharraf wants to be seen to be strong in attacking the Islamist groups," said one official.
The rise in attacks on Shias has also prompted speculation about the extent to which such violence is connected to events in Afghanistan, where the Hazaras support the government of Mr Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's US-backed president.
Angry crowds of Shia from the Hazara tribe, some armed and firing shots into the air, took to the streets and gathered outside the hospital where the bodies and casualties were taken.
Vehicles, shops and a wing of the hospital were set ablaze, and the army was called in. Crowds began to disperse after paramilitary troops used loudspeakers to announce a curfew. "We have to act very strong against them," Gen Musharraf said.
"It is unfortunate that some elements in Pakistan are undermining what Pakistan stands for. It is unfortunate that this small minority are able to derail or undermine national feelings," he told reporters.
Mr Sajid Ali Naqvi, head of Islami Tehrik Pakistan, the main Shia political group and an opponent of Gen Musharraf, called the attack a "terrorist incident" organised with the knowledge of state agencies. "If these incidents are not halted, then terrorism will engulf the entire country," he said.