Explosion kills 13 near Pakistan’s Red Mosque

updated 9:23 p.m. ET July 27, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A suspected suicide bomber killed at least 13 people at a hotel Friday after hundreds of stone-throwing protesters clashed with police as the capital’s Red Mosque reopened for the first time since a bloody army raid ousted pro-Taliban militants holed up there.

The blast, targeting police, was the latest in a string of militant revenge attacks and deepened the security crisis facing President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a close U.S. ally.

The bombing comes on the back of almost daily suicide blasts in Pakistan’s restive northwestern frontier, where Musharraf is also under U.S. pressure to crack down on al-Qaida. More than 300 people have died in violence which began with the siege of the Red Mosque at the start of July.

Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said the government had received intelligence about a possible suicide bombing in the Aabpara market where the attack happened about 5:15 p.m. Friday. He said there would be an official inquiry into the security lapse, but he also blamed the mosque unrest for creating the conditions in which an attacker could strike.

“If these people had not created such a situation, it would not have happened,” he said, adding the mosque was now indefinitely closed.

A 'pre-planned bombing'
Authorities had hoped to restore normalcy to the once-staid Pakistani capital by reopening the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, to the public more than two weeks after the commando raid dislodged militant supporters of its pro-Taliban clerics.

But religious students, angered by the government’s move to assign a cleric from another mosque to lead Friday prayers, staged protests inside the Red Mosque’s compound and occupied it for several hours.

They daubed red paint onto the walls and dome to restore its namesake color after a government restoration left it pale yellow. They also put up a black flag with two crossed swords — meant to symbolize jihad, or holy war. Street battles then broke out between stone-throwing protesters and police using tear gas.

Soon after came a thunderous blast in an open-air restaurant at the Muzaffar Hotel, located in a crowded market district about a quarter-mile away from the mosque.

Cheema said it was a “pre-planned bombing” targeting police.

“It was a huge explosion,” said witness Mohammed Ali. “There were policemen sitting and standing at the restaurant, and the explosion occurred after someone came near them,” he said, his shirt stained from the blood of victims he helped carry to ambulances.

“A policeman got blown into the air and landed away from the blast site,” said another witness, Imtiaz Ahmed.

Islamic militants strongly suspected
Television footage showed rescuers rushing bodies from the scene, many bleeding and others partially stripped of their clothes and with skin blackened and raw from the blast.

Khalid Pervez, Islamabad’s top administrator, said 13 people were killed, including seven police, and 71 were wounded, mostly bystanders.

Cheema said investigators had also recovered a head believed to be that of the attacker.

There was no claim of responsibility for the bombing, but Islamic militants were strongly suspected. It was the second major bombing to hit this city in 11 days. A July 17 suicide attack killed 16 people at a planned rally for the country’s top judge.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz condemned the latest attack and said it would not deter the government’s resolve to fight terrorism, the state Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

Islamabad had been gradually recovering from the mosque siege that left at least 102 dead, although security forces are still deployed at sandbagged bunkers on street corners.

Authorities had repaired the blast-scorched interior of the mosque, its damaged minarets and the bullet-riddled roof over its entrance hall.

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