Bomber kills dozens in Karachi

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – At least 47 people were killed and more than 100 injured Tuesday when a bomber blew himself up in the port city of Karachi at a massive gathering to celebrate the birthday of the prophet Muhammad, authorities said.

The deadly blast struck during an outdoor evening prayer service at a Karachi park. Afterward, angry mobs lashed out at security forces, setting dozens of vehicles ablaze, including ambulances and firetrucks, and also damaging two cinemas.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Karachi, on Pakistan’s southern coast, has been the scene of sectarian violence in the past between the country’s majority Sunni Muslims and its Shiite Muslim minority.

Thousands of Sunni worshipers had massed in Nishtar Park, Karachi’s biggest venue for religious and political gatherings, to mark Muhammad’s birthday, a national holiday here. Karachi police chief Niaz Siddiqui told reporters that bomb squads had checked out the site in advance and discovered nothing.

“We are suspecting that the suicide bomber came to the venue along with a small rally, which merged into the gathering. He was close to the stage … and he blew himself up when the prayers were nearing their end,” he said after visiting the blast site.

Preliminary investigations indicate that the attacker used as much as 11 pounds of explosive, Siddiqui said.

The explosion was so powerful that it seemed to shake the entire park, witnesses reported. A local sect leader said he was lucky to have stepped down from the dais moments before the blast.

“As I went off the stage, I heard a powerful blast and there was blood all over. Most of our leaders who were on stage have been killed,” the man told reporters.

The dead included at least two prominent Sunni clerics from the area. Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao confirmed late Tuesday that 47 people were killed, a number likely to rise.

“Strict security arrangements were made, but there was pressure due to a number of processions,” Sherpao said.

President Pervez Musharraf condemned the blast, promising that those who orchestrated it would “not go unpunished,” according to a statement issued on Pakistan’s state-run news agency. He directed authorities to beef up security measures at mosques around the country.

Television footage of the scene in Nishtar Park showed carnage and chaos, with bodies lying on the ground and other bloodied victims being carried off by frantic survivors.