Angry Shi'ites mourn 20 killed in Pakistan blast

Angry Shi'ite Muslims clashed with police during funerals yesterday for most of the 20 people killed in the apparently sectarian suicide bombing of a mosque in the Pakistani city of Karachi.

Riot police fired tear gas and live rounds into the air to drive back crowds of thousands gathered for the funerals. Some mourners pelted them with stones and torched nearby vehicles.

"We have no faith in police and rangers because they failed to protect our mosques," senior Shi'ite cleric Hasan Zafar Naqvi said. "We demand that the government deploy the army to ensure their security and safety."

The blast wounded at least 50 people, some seriously, and three Shi'ites died later in clashes with police. It appeared to be another in a spate of tit-for-tat sectarian violence in the volatile port city, coming less than 24 hours after the killing of Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai, a senior cleric from the majority Sunni Muslim sect.

It was the second bloody attack on a Shi'ite mosque in Karachi in less than a month. A suspected Sunni suicide bomber killed 24 people and wounded 125 on May 7.

"All indications suggest it was a suicide bombing," provincial police chief Syed Kamal Shah said of the latest blast.

He told reporters police had detained a number of people but gave no details. "It looks like acts of terrorism in the month of May were very well planned and it will take some time to determine the culprits."

The funerals took place in front of the Ali Raza Imam Bargah mosque, on one of Karachi's main thoroughfares, and shops and businesses were shuttered for fear of violence.

Thousands of angry Shi'ite mourners beat their chests and chanted "God is Greatest" as friends and relatives bore caskets draped in white and black cloth. Some waved wooden stakes and iron bars and chanted "Down with America!"

Analysts and diplomats have expressed fears that the new round of violence could provoke fresh attacks on Western targets.

The mosque targeted in the bombing was less than a mile from where Shamzai, a pro-Taliban cleric who called for jihad, or holy war, against the United States, was killed on Sunday.

While the latest bombing smacked of decades-old sectarianism, analysts say it appears Sunni militants have been using attacks on Shi'ites as part of a broader campaign to undermine President Pervez Musharraf and his support for the US-led war on terror.

A week ago, a policeman was killed and more than 30 people hurt when two car bombs detonated by suspected Sunni militants exploded near the home of the US consul.

Ingrained hatred that Shi'ites also feel for the US has not ebbed despite the US focus on containing Sunni militancy after the September 11 attacks in 2001, and the mood has been exacerbated by US battles with Shi'ites in Iraq.