PAKISTAN: A powerful bomb ripped through a crowd of Sunni Muslims in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi yesterday evening, killing at least 45 and raising fears of an escalation of tit-for-tat sectarian atrocities.
The bomb exploded under a wooden stage in Nishtar Park, where an estimated 10,000 worshippers had gathered for prayers to mark the birth of Islam's Prophet Muhammad.
Television pictures showed scenes of anger and confusion. Men in bloodied white robes clambered desperately over limp bodies, some apparently dead. A thick cloud of smoke hung over the damaged stage.
Vans and small ambulances took the wounded to hospitals across the city, where officials confirmed 45 deaths and dozens of injuries. "I saw people collecting body parts and putting them in ambulances," said Muhammad Asif.
Journalists and photographers covering the religious ceremony were among the wounded. Inside hospitals scores of victims lay in crowded wards awaiting treatment. In one ward a screaming woman wailed over a body shrouded in a white sheet.
A crowd of angry youths, some armed, rampaged through the city's commercial district afterwards, firing on police and setting fire to cars. They blamed security forces for failing to prevent the attack and pelted paramilitary troops with rocks as they tried to reach Nishtar Park.
President Pervez Musharraf condemned the attack and said the culprits would "not go unpunished", according to the state news agency.
There were no claims of responsibility, but suspicions rested firmly on a sectarian motive. Violence between Sunni and Shia extremists has claimed hundreds of victims across Pakistan in recent years, particularly in Karachi.
Last night there were fears of reprisal attacks.