AFP, BBC (UK), VOICE OF AMERICA (USA)
KARACHI – The death toll has reached at least 45, with 150 wounded from a powerful blast in a mainly Shiite Muslim area of Karachi. There are reports that the explosion was set off by Sunni terrorists, although by midday Monday no group had claimed responsibility for the attack in the city of 21 million, Pakistan’s largest.
The device was triggered as worshippers were coming out of mosques in Abbas Town, a Shiite neighborhood after Sunday evening prayers.
Authorities and civilians were still digging through the rubble of the holy place and the two partially collapsed apartment blocks on Monday in the search for survivors, reports the BBC.
Pakistan’s largest city was almost completely frozen on Monday, as the local government announced three days of mourning: “There will be no public transport on the roads today,” said Karachi Transporters Association chief Irshad Bokari, quoted by AFP.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is one of the extremist Sunni groups suspected of orchestrating the attack, as they are responsible for a growing number of bombings over the past few years, noted the BBC.
The city and the country have been the theater of many violent ethnic clashes: last year, 2,284 people died due to political, religious and ethnic conflicts in the city alone, reports VOA news.
