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Sectarian war spreads to pakistan and afghanistan { February 10 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/10/international/asia/10stan.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/10/international/asia/10stan.html
February 10, 2006
Sectarian Strife Kills 31 in Pakistan and 6 in Afghanistan
By CARLOTTA GALL and SALMAN MASOOD
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Feb. 9 — Violence exploded in Pakistan and Afghanistan on Thursday during processions by Shiite Muslim worshipers observing the holy day of Ashura. A suicide bombing in northwestern Pakistan killed 23 people and wounded dozens more.
After the bombing, in the town of Hangu, angry Shiites rampaged through the streets, setting fire to stores, government buildings and vehicles. By the end of the day the death toll had grown to 31, local officials said.
In western Afghanistan, fighting broke out between Shiite and Sunni Muslims during a procession of Shiite worshipers in Herat, the country's third-largest city. The fighting killed 6 people and wounded 120 others, said a senior military official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.
Sectarian attacks, including suicide attacks on mosques, have occurred in Pakistan, but such a clash was unexpected in the traditionally tolerant Afghan city of Herat. The violence there was another blow in a country that has been struggling with increasing terrorist attacks, local insurgencies and angry demonstrations in recent days over the publication of satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
Pakistani troops moved into Hangu, which is 125 miles southwest of the capital, Islamabad, after the bombing and the rampage.
"There was panic everywhere," The Associated Press quoted a witness, Muhammad Jamil, 25, as saying. "Some people rushed to the injured and dead bodies. Others went to houses and took out weapons and knives and kerosene oil and started setting fire to shops, destroying everything."
There were unconfirmed reports that angry Shiites had fired on a vehicle, killing four people. News accounts reported a thick layer of smoke hanging above the town as the violence intensified.
Leading Shiite and Sunni religious leaders condemned the attack as an attempt to create chaos in Pakistan. No one had claimed responsibility for the attack by Thursday evening, but Sheik Rashid Ahmed, the information minister, confirmed in a telephone interview that a suicide bomber had carried out the attack.
"This was a blast," he said. "It was a suicide bomber." He would not say who he thought was behind the attack. "Such things take time," he said of the investigation.
Riffat Pasha, the police chief of North-West Frontier Province, told local news organizations: "This is an act of terrorism. There were elaborate security arrangements, but it is difficult to prevent such suicide attacks."
Pakistan has been troubled by tensions between the Shiite minority and the Deobandi sect, a puritanical branch of Sunni Islam to which some of the country's jihadist political factions belong. Violence between the two groups has killed more than 1,200 people in the last 15 years. Sunnis make up 77 percent of the country's population of 150 million, and Shiites 20 percent.
In Afghanistan the procession of hundreds of Shiites in Herat commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, turned violent, with Sunnis and Shiites fighting with sticks, stones and knives, and then guns and grenades. Dr. Abdul Jalil, who was on duty at the city's main civilian hospital, said the staff had treated wounds from shootings, stabbing and beatings.
By the end of the afternoon the main Shiite mosque in the northern part of the city and nearby shops were on fire, said Muhammad Rafiq Shahir, leader of a group of socially minded professionals called the Experts Council. He said he had seen a Shiite throw a grenade into a crowd, wounding about 15 people.
Mr. Shahir, a Sunni, blamed the government for setting the stage for violence by appointing a Shiite last year as governor of Herat Province, which has a Sunni majority. Tensions remain between ethnic groups in Afghanistan from years of factional fighting.
The governor, who is known to have close ties to Iran, had aggravated the latent tensions, Mr. Shahir contended, in part by allowing a larger procession for Ashura this year than usual. Mr. Shahir also accused Shiites of provocations, saying some of them entered the main Sunni mosque wearing shoes last year, and he accused Shiites of a knife attack against the son of a Sunni cleric on Wednesday.
Afghan soldiers and police officers were deployed, and by evening the city was calm, said Gen. Zaher Azimi, the Defense Ministry spokesman. The Afghan government sent a delegation from the capital, Kabul, to negotiate, headed by a former governor of Herat, the powerful Tajik commander Ismail Khan, who was ousted from office in 2004.
Carlotta Gall reported from Lashkar Gah for this article, and Salman Masood from Islamabad.
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
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