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February 9, 2006
Pakistan: Shia and Sunni Muslims in Conflict - 22 Dead
News from AP via NewsPress states that a suicide bomber approached a Shia procession in northwestern Pakistan earlier today, and detonated his explosives.
At least 22 people were killed in the blast, and dozens injured. The event happened at the main Shia mosque in Hangu, 125 miles southwest of Islamabad..
The bombing was followed by extensive rioting, with shops and cars burned by Shia protesters. Only 40% of the town's bazaar area was left intact after the rampages of the rioters.
The army tried to restore order, and imposed a curfew.
Sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni has been going on for some time in Pakistan, where in the general population the Shias comprise only 20% of the nation's Muslims. Much of the conflict occurs in the north of the country.
According to CNN the Shia procession by the mosque was to celebrate Ashura, a high point in the Shia calendar, marking the murder of Imam Hossein by the army of Yazeed, more than 1300 years ago. This event created the schism in Islam, separating Shia (supporters of Imam Hossein, or Imam Ali) from Sunni.
Another violent event to prove to the world that Islam can never be a "religion of peace," if Muslim sects in a Muslim nation can act in this way toward their co-religionists.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at February 9, 2006 5:16 AM
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