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The Shia community has been targeted again in two major cities of Pakistan – Lahore and Karachi – yesterday (January 25, 2011) by means of terrorist attacks, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens of others. Pakistani Taliban have accepted the reasonability for the attacks, again reminding the authorities in charge of security that they need to work harder to protect Pakistani citizens.
The first attack happened near Urdu Bazar Lahore (Punjab) where a minor boy, about 14, according to officials, tried to blow himself up in the middle of a morning procession of the Shia community (they were commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussain in the 7th century). The police tried to stop the boy from moving into the middle of the procession, upon which the boy blew himself up. The blast killed at least 13, according to newspaper reports, and injured over 70 others.
The second blast took place, an hour and a half after this incident, in Karachi (Sindh). It also targeted a Shia procession and the blast was made by a bomber riding a motorbike, who tried to ram it into a bus carrying Shia participants of the procession. But somehow the blast hit a police vehicle that apparently was chasing the bike. Two police officers in the vehicle were killed as a result of the blast.
Shias have repeatedly been the target of terrorist violence and on many occasions Pakistani Taliban accept the responsibility for their killing. In this instance, however, the Taliban spokesman is a=said to have claimed that the target of the Lahore attack was security personnel. However, it is not clear whether the statement holds against facts sice the bomber boy tried to run inside the procession to make the blast as reported by media sources.
