(NSI News Source Info) February 21, 2009: Suspected Shiite gunmen killed two members of the rival Sunni Muslim sect Saturday in northwest Pakistan, police said, a day after a suicide bombing at a Shiite leader's funeral killed 30 and set off sectarian riots.
A string of sectarian attacks in recent months has undermined already deteriorating security in nuclear-armed, Muslim-majority Pakistan as it tries to defeat al-Qaida and Taliban militants based in tribal regions close to the Afghan border. 
Pakistan army soldiers stand alert in troubled city of Dera Ismail Khan during a curfew imposed after a bomb attack on Friday, Feb. 20, 2009 in Pakistan. A hospital official says the death toll from a bomb attack at a funeral for a Shiite Muslim leader in northwestern Pakistan has risen to 25.
Dera Ismail Khan, a rough and tumble city not far from the tribal regions, has endured both sectarian and militant violence.
The shootings Saturday occurred in a market. Three other Sunnis were wounded when the gunmen rode by on a motorbike and fired, area police chief Miran Shah said.
The attack occurred despite the presence of troops sent to patrol the city after Friday's suicide attack at a funeral where about 1,000 people had gathered to mourn Sher Zeman, a local Shiite leader gunned down the day before.
After the bombing, angry Shiites fired on police and a public bus was torched. Three people were shot dead in the melee, officials said. A mass funeral was planned Saturday for victims of the Friday bombing, which also wounded more than 60.
Extremists from the majority Sunni community view Shiites as heretics, and the two groups have long engaged in tit-for-tat killings in Pakistan. The number of attacks have increased in recent years along with violence by al-Qaida and the Taliban, which are also Sunni groups.
Taliban-led militants have seized control of pockets of northwest Pakistan despite military offensives and analysts say they are likely directing or supporting the sectarian violence.
On Monday, Pakistan announced it would agree to the imposition of Islamic law in the northwest's restive Swat Valley as part of a deal aimed at restoring peace there. The pact was spearheaded by hard-line cleric Sufi Mohammed who is negotiating with the Taliban in the valley to give up their arms.
The government has rejected criticism that the pact would create a Taliban sanctuary less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the capital, Islamabad. But Richard Holbrooke, the new U.S. envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said Thursday that he raised concern about the deal during a phone call with Pakistan's president.
Holbrooke told CNN that President Barack Obama was worried "that this deal, which is portrayed in the press as a truce ... does not turn into a surrender."
Pakistan army soldiers stand alert in troubled city of Dera Ismail Khan during a curfew imposed after a bomb attack on Friday, Feb. 20, 2009 in Pakistan. A hospital official says the death toll from a bomb attack at a funeral for a Shiite Muslim leader in northwestern Pakistan has risen to 25.
Dera Ismail Khan, a rough and tumble city not far from the tribal regions, has endured both sectarian and militant violence.
The shootings Saturday occurred in a market. Three other Sunnis were wounded when the gunmen rode by on a motorbike and fired, area police chief Miran Shah said.
The attack occurred despite the presence of troops sent to patrol the city after Friday's suicide attack at a funeral where about 1,000 people had gathered to mourn Sher Zeman, a local Shiite leader gunned down the day before.
After the bombing, angry Shiites fired on police and a public bus was torched. Three people were shot dead in the melee, officials said. A mass funeral was planned Saturday for victims of the Friday bombing, which also wounded more than 60.
Extremists from the majority Sunni community view Shiites as heretics, and the two groups have long engaged in tit-for-tat killings in Pakistan. The number of attacks have increased in recent years along with violence by al-Qaida and the Taliban, which are also Sunni groups.
Taliban-led militants have seized control of pockets of northwest Pakistan despite military offensives and analysts say they are likely directing or supporting the sectarian violence.
On Monday, Pakistan announced it would agree to the imposition of Islamic law in the northwest's restive Swat Valley as part of a deal aimed at restoring peace there. The pact was spearheaded by hard-line cleric Sufi Mohammed who is negotiating with the Taliban in the valley to give up their arms.
The government has rejected criticism that the pact would create a Taliban sanctuary less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the capital, Islamabad. But Richard Holbrooke, the new U.S. envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said Thursday that he raised concern about the deal during a phone call with Pakistan's president.
Holbrooke told CNN that President Barack Obama was worried "that this deal, which is portrayed in the press as a truce ... does not turn into a surrender." 
No comments:
Post a Comment