Bombing at funeral for Shiite leader kills 28; scene, witness, hospital
(20 Feb 2009) SHOTLIST 1. Mid of solider holding gun 2. Wide of scene, people, bloodstains on ground 3. Ambulance arriving at scene 4. A policeman standing near damaged shop 5. Shoes, police and people 6. Wide of scene, background damaged car 7. Ambulance arriving 8. Shoes of victims piled up on ground, background damaged bus 9. District Headquarters Hospital 10. Injured being taken inside hospital 11. SOUNDBITE: (Urdu) Sarfraz Hussain, Eyewitness "As we passed through Shobra hotel, We saw a boy come quickly towards the funeral procession and blow himself up. Then they (unknown people) started heavy firing from their roofs (on people who attended procession) and many people were injured." 12. Various of injured in ward 13. Covered bodies of victims 14. Injured man outside hospital 15. Burnt out bus 16. Wide of empty bazaar STORYLINE: A suicide bomber attacked the funeral of a Shiite Muslim leader in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing 28 people and triggering deadly rioting, officials said. Rising sectarian attacks threaten to further destabilise nuclear-armed Pakistan, just as it faces intense international pressure to crack down on Islamist militants. Friday's explosion struck a 1-thousand strong crowd streaming toward a graveyard in Dera Ismail Khan for the burial of Sher Zeman, a Shiite leader who was shot dead in the city the day before. A police official said a suicide attacker killed at least 28 people and wounded more than 60 others, leaving shoes and torn clothing littering a bloodstained street. Some of the dead and injured were taken to the hospital in wooden handcarts. Gunfire broke out afterward and police said angry Shiites fired on officers rushing to the scene. The police spokesman said two Sunni Muslim residents had been shot dead in the rioting. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but past attacks on Pakistan's minority Shiites have been carried out by extremists from the majority Sunni community who regard the sect as heretical. A local Shiite leader, said extremists were trying to start a wider sectarian conflict and force Shiites to leave Dera Ismail Khan. Relations between the two communities are under growing strain following a series of attacks. A car bomb killed 29 people and wounded scores near a Shiite mosque in Peshawar in December. On February 5, a suicide bomber killed 24 people at a Shiite mosque in a central city. Much of the bloodshed has been in the northwest, where the Taliban and other hardline Sunni groups have seized control of large areas of territory, despite a series of military offensives. International concern is focused on the Swat valley, where troops and militants have been observing a cease-fire since authorities offered to allow the introduction of Islamic law, provided militants laid down their arms. Pakistan has sent hard-line cleric Sufi Mohammed to persuade the Swat Taliban to accept the pact, whose details remain murky. The government has rejected criticism that the pact would create a Taliban sanctuary less than 100 miles (160 kilometres) from the capital, Islamabad, insisting it is committed to defeating terrorism and extremism. Richard Holbrooke, the new US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said on Thursday that he had raised concern about the deal during a phone call with Pakistan's president. Holbrooke told CNN that President Barack Obama was worried that the deal might "turn into a surrender". Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
