PAKISTAN-VIOLENCE/BOMB BLAST Bomb blast kills two at Shi'ite mosque in Pakistan's Rawalpindi

Record ID: 358299

  • Title: PAKISTAN-VIOLENCE/BOMB BLAST Bomb blast kills two at Shi'ite mosque in Pakistan's Rawalpindi
  • Date: 18th February 2015
  • Summary: RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN (FEBRUARY 18, 2015) (REUTERS) AMBULANCES AT SITE OF ATTACK AMBULANCE, GATE OF SHI'ITE MOSQUE IN BACKGROUND / AUDIO OF AMBULANCE SIREN VARIOUS OF EMERGENCY SERVICES WORKERS PEOPLE GATHERED BEHIND ROAD BARRICADE EMERGENCY SERVICE WORKERS / PEOPLE STANDING (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) POLICE OFFICIAL, ARSHAD MEHMOOD, SAYING: "Inside, where his (the attacker's) dead
  • Embargoed: 5th March 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA8JQML4VLQBFW4GR5NZZIUFEUH
  • Story Text: A bomb blast in a Shi'ite mosque killed two people and wounded six in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi on Wednesday (February 18), a hospital spokesman said, the latest in a string of deadly attacks targeting the minority sect over the past month.
    Fahad Marwat, a spokesman for the Taliban splinter group Jundullah, claimed responsibility, saying it was revenge for an ongoing army operation aimed at driving militants out of their North Waziristan stronghold along the Afghan border.
    Local media reported that a security guard had prevented a suicide bomber armed with grenades from entering the mosque in Rawalpindi, which lies next to the capital of Islamabad in the north-eastern part of the country.
    "Inside, where his (the attacker's) dead body is lying, is totally closed off. The operation is continuing. The bomb disposal squad is searching, and checking whether the attacker is wearing a suicide jacket. The dead body is intact, not blown up," said police official, Arshad Mehmood, speaking to reporters outside the mosque where the blast occurred.
    Factions of the Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for two other attacks on Shi'ites in the past month.
    Twenty people were killed this month in an attack on a Shi'ite mosque in Peshawar, while 60 were killed in a Jan. 30 attack on a Shi'ite mosque in the southern province of Sindh.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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