A suicide bombing at a Shi’ite demonstration in solidarity with the Palestinians in the western Pakistani city of Quetta (Balochistan province) on Sept. 3 left at least 65 people dead. That same day, a suicide attack during Friday evening prayers at an Ahmadiyya mosque in the town of Mardan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province) killed at least two people. Local Ahmadi spokesman Saleemudin faulted authorities for not taking adequate security measures at the mosque given recent deadly attacks on the Ahmadiyya elsewhere in Pakistan. But he added that the Ahmadiyya would remain peaceful and not take the law in their own hands. (WP, Kashmir Observer, Pakistan Daily Times, Sept. 4)
Note that in April of this year, the North West Frontier Province—a name inherited from the British—was officially changed to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in an open bid to appease Pashtun ethno-nationalist sentiment (and presumably undercut the jihadis). (Dawn, April 1)
See our last post on Pakistan and the struggle within Islam.
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Pakistan: jihadi terror targets mosque —again
At least nine people were killed in two suicide blasts at a Sufi shrine in Karachi on Oct. 7. Two children were among those killed, and some 55 were injured. The blasts hit the busy Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine as people were leaving evening prayers. Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the incident “in the strongest possible terms.” (BBC News, Oct. 7)
Pakistan: jihadi terror targets mosques —again
A suicide attack on a mosque in northwest Pakistan’s Darra Adam Khel region during Friday prayers Nov. 5 left at least 72 dead. Later that day, unknown assailants threw hand grenades into a mosque during evening prayers in the village of Sulemankhel, just north of Peshawar, killing four and leaving and more than 20 injured. (BBC News, Nov. 6)
Four people were killed Oct. 25 when a bomb exploded at one of Pakistan’s largest Sufi sacred sites, the Baba Farid shrine in Pak Pattan, an ancient city in Punjab province. The bomb was placed at one of the gates of and exploded shortly after dawn prayers when crowds of morning worshipers usually leave the site. (Ya Libnan, Oct. 25)