Suicide attack on Pakistani police; 22 dead
(Adds stock market falls, comment from security official)
By Mubasher Bukhari
LAHORE, Pakistan, Jan 10 (Reuters) - A suicide bomb attack killed at least 22 people, most of them policemen, in Pakistan on Thursday, deepening a sense of insecurity weeks before elections that could weaken President Pervez Musharraf's grip on power.
The suicide bomber walked up to policemen outside the High Court in the eastern city of Lahore, who had gathered outside the court ahead of a protest rally by lawyers, and blew himself up.
All but two of the 22 dead were policemen, said a doctor at the city's main hospital. About 60 people were wounded.
Police constable Jameel Ahmed said the attacker was a man aged about 25 who had arrived outside the court on a motorbike.
"He parked his bike and walked to the police and blew himself up," Ahmed said.
Pakistan has seen a wave of bomb attacks in recent months, many of them suicide attacks on members of the security forces, but there had been none in Lahore, capital of Punjab province.
Hundreds of people have been killed in attacks including opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, who was killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack as she left an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi on Dec. 27.
More than 20 bystanders were killed in that attack, which led to the postponement of a Jan. 8 general election meant to complete a transition to civilian rule in the nuclear-armed U.S. ally.
The elections, for a lower house of parliament from which a new prime minister and government will be drawn, and assemblies in Pakistan's four provinces, have been postponed to Feb. 18.
But analysts and some politicians fear Musharraf will seize the opportunity to put off the election again, citing violence, with the party that backs him facing losses in the vote, especially after Bhutto's killing.
Campaigning has not resumed since Bhutto's killing and some political leaders are lying low because of security worries.
Pakistan's main stock index closed more than 1 percent lower after the attack.
"BUILDING SHOOK"
Television pictures showed wounded policemen being hauled onto stretchers and taken away by ambulance. Police caps, boots and riot shields littered the road.
A security official said the head of a man with shoulder-length hair and a short beard, suspected to be the bomber, had been recovered.
The government blamed al Qaeda-linked militants intent on destabilising the country for the recent wave of attacks, including Bhutto's assassination.
But many Pakistanis accuse the government of failing to provide Bhutto with adequate security, and some even suspect her enemies in shadowy security agencies were involved.
"It's not only that people feel that (the government) is not doing enough," said government critic and human rights activist Asma Jahangir.
"There is also a feeling that the government machinery is maybe somewhere connected to all this. That makes it more fearful," she said.
Mohammad Arshad, an 18-year-old clerk working in a lawyer's office across the road from the Lahore blast, said he saw blood and bits of flesh sticking to the broken windows of his building.
"The whole building shook and when I ran out I saw bodies lying all around. There was flesh and blood everywhere and people were crying for help," Arshad said.
The pulse of Pakistani politics beats strongest in Lahore, a city that is home to many of the country's elite and families of the army's officer class.
Punjab is Pakistan's most populous and richest province. It also has about half of its National Assembly seats.
Musharraf and caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro condemned what they called a terrorist attack and ordered authorities to hunt down those behind it.
The attack came as Pakistan braced for another wave of violence as minority Shi'ite Muslims begin an annual mourning period marred by sectarian attacks in recent years. (Additional reporting by Mohsin Raza, Kamran Haider and Zeeshan Haider; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Alex Richardson)
By Mubasher Bukhari
LAHORE, Pakistan, Jan 10 (Reuters) - A suicide bomb attack killed at least 22 people, most of them policemen, in Pakistan on Thursday, deepening a sense of insecurity weeks before elections that could weaken President Pervez Musharraf's grip on power.
The suicide bomber walked up to policemen outside the High Court in the eastern city of Lahore, who had gathered outside the court ahead of a protest rally by lawyers, and blew himself up.
All but two of the 22 dead were policemen, said a doctor at the city's main hospital. About 60 people were wounded.
Police constable Jameel Ahmed said the attacker was a man aged about 25 who had arrived outside the court on a motorbike.
"He parked his bike and walked to the police and blew himself up," Ahmed said.
Pakistan has seen a wave of bomb attacks in recent months, many of them suicide attacks on members of the security forces, but there had been none in Lahore, capital of Punjab province.
Hundreds of people have been killed in attacks including opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, who was killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack as she left an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi on Dec. 27.
More than 20 bystanders were killed in that attack, which led to the postponement of a Jan. 8 general election meant to complete a transition to civilian rule in the nuclear-armed U.S. ally.
The elections, for a lower house of parliament from which a new prime minister and government will be drawn, and assemblies in Pakistan's four provinces, have been postponed to Feb. 18.
But analysts and some politicians fear Musharraf will seize the opportunity to put off the election again, citing violence, with the party that backs him facing losses in the vote, especially after Bhutto's killing.
Campaigning has not resumed since Bhutto's killing and some political leaders are lying low because of security worries.
Pakistan's main stock index closed more than 1 percent lower after the attack.
"BUILDING SHOOK"
Television pictures showed wounded policemen being hauled onto stretchers and taken away by ambulance. Police caps, boots and riot shields littered the road.
A security official said the head of a man with shoulder-length hair and a short beard, suspected to be the bomber, had been recovered.
The government blamed al Qaeda-linked militants intent on destabilising the country for the recent wave of attacks, including Bhutto's assassination.
But many Pakistanis accuse the government of failing to provide Bhutto with adequate security, and some even suspect her enemies in shadowy security agencies were involved.
"It's not only that people feel that (the government) is not doing enough," said government critic and human rights activist Asma Jahangir.
"There is also a feeling that the government machinery is maybe somewhere connected to all this. That makes it more fearful," she said.
Mohammad Arshad, an 18-year-old clerk working in a lawyer's office across the road from the Lahore blast, said he saw blood and bits of flesh sticking to the broken windows of his building.
"The whole building shook and when I ran out I saw bodies lying all around. There was flesh and blood everywhere and people were crying for help," Arshad said.
The pulse of Pakistani politics beats strongest in Lahore, a city that is home to many of the country's elite and families of the army's officer class.
Punjab is Pakistan's most populous and richest province. It also has about half of its National Assembly seats.
Musharraf and caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro condemned what they called a terrorist attack and ordered authorities to hunt down those behind it.
The attack came as Pakistan braced for another wave of violence as minority Shi'ite Muslims begin an annual mourning period marred by sectarian attacks in recent years. (Additional reporting by Mohsin Raza, Kamran Haider and Zeeshan Haider; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Alex Richardson)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Sister speaks to jailed journalist
