Blasts rock Bhutto's home run
At least 136 people killed as suicide bomber targets Benazir’s cavalcade; all eyes on al-Qaeda, Taliban.
By Agencies |
The midnight suicide attack that killed at least 136 people in Karachi and shattered the homecoming of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto may have been the work of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, authorities said on Friday, as forensic experts studied the severed head of the alleged bomber to try to determine his identity.
The attack — one of the deadliest in Pakistan’s history — bore the hall-marks of militants linked to pro-Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud and al-Qaeda, according to Ghulam Muhammad Mohtarem, the top security official in Sindh province, where Karachi is located. He suggested that Bhutto’s camp had gotten carried away celebrating her return after eight years in exile, and had not taken the need for security seriously.
“We were already fearing a strike from Mehsud and his local affiliates and this was conveyed to the (Bhutto’s) Pakistan People’s Party but they got carried away by political exigencies instead of taking our concern seriously,” Mohtarem said.
Bhutto survived unscathed, but the back-to-back explosions that went off near a bullet-proof truck in which she was riding turned her jubilant homecoming parade through the city streets into a scene of blood and carnage, ripping victims apart and hurling a fireball into the sky. The attack shattered the windows of her truck. She appeared dazed afterward and was escorted to her Karachi home.
President Pervez Musharraf, the nation’s leader, phoned Bhutto on Friday to express his shock and grief over the bombing and prayed for her safety and security, his spokesman said.
“The president expressed his strong resolve that a thorough investigation would be carried out in order to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice,” spokesman Rashid Qureshi said. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, which cast a pall over Bhutto’s talks with Musharraf and possible plans for a moderate, pro-US alliance. Leaders of her Pakistan People’s Party were meeting at her Karachi residence on Friday.
Mohtarem said nuts and bolts and steel balls packed around the explosives had made the bombing so deadly. He said it was impossible to prevent more such attacks.
Officials at six hospitals in Karachi reported 136 dead and around 250 wounded. Karachi police chief Azhar Farooqi said 113 people died, including 20 policemen, and that 300 people were wounded. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the differing death tolls.
Police collected forensic evidence — picking up pieces of flesh and discarded shoes — from the site of the bombing. The truck was hoisted away using a crane. One side of the truck, including a big portrait of the former premier was splattered with blood and riddled with shrapnel holes.
Interior minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said 18 police died in the attack, as two police vehicles on the left side of Bhutto’s truck bore the brunt of the blast.
He said authorities had done everything possible to protect the huge gathering of Bhutto supporters marking her return, but noted that electronic jammers were ineffective against a manually detonated bomb.
The attack — one of the deadliest in Pakistan’s history — bore the hall-marks of militants linked to pro-Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud and al-Qaeda, according to Ghulam Muhammad Mohtarem, the top security official in Sindh province, where Karachi is located. He suggested that Bhutto’s camp had gotten carried away celebrating her return after eight years in exile, and had not taken the need for security seriously.
“We were already fearing a strike from Mehsud and his local affiliates and this was conveyed to the (Bhutto’s) Pakistan People’s Party but they got carried away by political exigencies instead of taking our concern seriously,” Mohtarem said.
Bhutto survived unscathed, but the back-to-back explosions that went off near a bullet-proof truck in which she was riding turned her jubilant homecoming parade through the city streets into a scene of blood and carnage, ripping victims apart and hurling a fireball into the sky. The attack shattered the windows of her truck. She appeared dazed afterward and was escorted to her Karachi home.
President Pervez Musharraf, the nation’s leader, phoned Bhutto on Friday to express his shock and grief over the bombing and prayed for her safety and security, his spokesman said.
“The president expressed his strong resolve that a thorough investigation would be carried out in order to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice,” spokesman Rashid Qureshi said. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, which cast a pall over Bhutto’s talks with Musharraf and possible plans for a moderate, pro-US alliance. Leaders of her Pakistan People’s Party were meeting at her Karachi residence on Friday.
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Mohtarem said nuts and bolts and steel balls packed around the explosives had made the bombing so deadly. He said it was impossible to prevent more such attacks.
Officials at six hospitals in Karachi reported 136 dead and around 250 wounded. Karachi police chief Azhar Farooqi said 113 people died, including 20 policemen, and that 300 people were wounded. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the differing death tolls.
Police collected forensic evidence — picking up pieces of flesh and discarded shoes — from the site of the bombing. The truck was hoisted away using a crane. One side of the truck, including a big portrait of the former premier was splattered with blood and riddled with shrapnel holes.
Interior minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said 18 police died in the attack, as two police vehicles on the left side of Bhutto’s truck bore the brunt of the blast.
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He said authorities had done everything possible to protect the huge gathering of Bhutto supporters marking her return, but noted that electronic jammers were ineffective against a manually detonated bomb.
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