DMB
29 May 2010, 03:29 PM
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/worshippers-slaughtered-in-deadly-final-warning-1986188.html
Police said that at least seven attackers were involved, including three bombers and a gunman mounted atop a minaret who sprayed bullets into the crowds of worshippers below. "It was like a war going on around me," said Luqman Ahmed, who was at the second mosque in the Model Town neighbourhood. "I kept on praying, 'May God save me from this hell.'"
The attack on that mosque, near the centre of Pakistan's second city, ended fairly quickly, with commandos storming the building to find scores of dead bodies on different floors. Two of the four gunmen are thought to have escaped.
In Garhi Shahu, the death toll is thought to be higher. Three militants held several people hostage inside the mosque in a siege that lasted four hours. "They fought the police for some time, but on seeing they were being defeated they exploded themselves," said Sajjad Bhutta, Lahore's top police official.
...Several media outlets also received a text message of responsibility from the Pakistani Taliban and the "Punjabi wing" of al-Qa'ida, a hitherto-unknown group. "This is a final warning to the [Ahmadis]," said the chilling message, "Leave Pakistan or prepare for death at the hands of Muhammad's devotees."
The Ahmadi sect is perhaps the worst treated of Pakistan's long-suffering minority groups. In the 1970s, bowing to pressure from hardliners, Pakistan declared them to be non-Muslims. Ever since, they have suffered periodic attacks, with many – including the current spiritual leader – forced to flee the country. But yesterday's twin attacks caused the largest loss of life suffered by the sect in a single day.
It showed a broadening of the militants' targets. Similar coordinated attacks have scarred Lahore throughout Pakistan's three-year wave of terror but they usually focus on security installations or personnel, not minority groups. "The blurring of lines between the Taliban and Sunni sectarian militants places heterodox communities like the Ahmadis in double jeopardy," said Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch.
...Leaders of the Ahmadi community, many of whom have been based in Britain since they fled Pakistan in the early 1980s, called on the Pakistani authorities to do more to protect minority religions from violent extremists. "Ahmadi Muslims epitomise the peaceful practice of Islam and to target them highlights that extremists will leave no stone unturned in their quest to spread terror," said Rafiq Hayat, President of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK.
It's not safe to be a peaceful Muslim in Pakistan. What a hell hole!
Police said that at least seven attackers were involved, including three bombers and a gunman mounted atop a minaret who sprayed bullets into the crowds of worshippers below. "It was like a war going on around me," said Luqman Ahmed, who was at the second mosque in the Model Town neighbourhood. "I kept on praying, 'May God save me from this hell.'"
The attack on that mosque, near the centre of Pakistan's second city, ended fairly quickly, with commandos storming the building to find scores of dead bodies on different floors. Two of the four gunmen are thought to have escaped.
In Garhi Shahu, the death toll is thought to be higher. Three militants held several people hostage inside the mosque in a siege that lasted four hours. "They fought the police for some time, but on seeing they were being defeated they exploded themselves," said Sajjad Bhutta, Lahore's top police official.
...Several media outlets also received a text message of responsibility from the Pakistani Taliban and the "Punjabi wing" of al-Qa'ida, a hitherto-unknown group. "This is a final warning to the [Ahmadis]," said the chilling message, "Leave Pakistan or prepare for death at the hands of Muhammad's devotees."
The Ahmadi sect is perhaps the worst treated of Pakistan's long-suffering minority groups. In the 1970s, bowing to pressure from hardliners, Pakistan declared them to be non-Muslims. Ever since, they have suffered periodic attacks, with many – including the current spiritual leader – forced to flee the country. But yesterday's twin attacks caused the largest loss of life suffered by the sect in a single day.
It showed a broadening of the militants' targets. Similar coordinated attacks have scarred Lahore throughout Pakistan's three-year wave of terror but they usually focus on security installations or personnel, not minority groups. "The blurring of lines between the Taliban and Sunni sectarian militants places heterodox communities like the Ahmadis in double jeopardy," said Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch.
...Leaders of the Ahmadi community, many of whom have been based in Britain since they fled Pakistan in the early 1980s, called on the Pakistani authorities to do more to protect minority religions from violent extremists. "Ahmadi Muslims epitomise the peaceful practice of Islam and to target them highlights that extremists will leave no stone unturned in their quest to spread terror," said Rafiq Hayat, President of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK.
It's not safe to be a peaceful Muslim in Pakistan. What a hell hole!