Thousands of mourners on Tuesday attended funeral prayers for 43 people who died in a suicide attack on a Muharram procession of Pakistani Shia Muslims in Karachi,where residents observed a shutdown to show solidarity with the victims. Provincial Health Secretary Hashim Raza Zaidi said 43 people had died so far in yesterday's attack,the third terrorist assault in as many days on a Shia procession in Karachi,which sparked widespread rioting and violence across the city of 14 million. Other officials said over 100 injured were being treated in hospitals and many of them were in a serious condition. Amid tight security,thousands of mourners gathered at various places in the city for funeral prayers for the victims. The suicide bomber mingled with hundreds of people participating in a procession for the Islamic holy month of Muharram and detonated his explosives on M A Jinnah Road,a key thoroughfare in the heart of Karachi,yesterday. Mobs went on the rampage,torching cars and shops,firing in the air and beating up police and paramilitary personnel. Over 1,500 shops on M A Jinnah Road and in Boulton Market were set ablaze. Fire fighters struggled till this afternoon to control the blaze as plumes of thick black smoke rose over the city. Authorities deployed over 40 fire tenders to control the flames. A multi-storey building collapsed in Boulton Market and the fire was exacerbated by chemicals stored in shops dealing in plastics and perfumes. Traders' associations estimated that the blaze had caused losses of around Rs 20 billion. Thousands of police and Pakistan Rangers personnel were deployed across Karachi and the rest of Sindh province to maintain calm. Shia groups called for three days of mourning to protest the attack as life in cities and towns across southern Sindh province was affected by an impromptu strike. The Sindh government announced a public holiday for today in Karachi and markets and commercial hubs remained shut while traffic stayed off the roads as residents observed a shutdown to show solidarity with the victims. Shia groups also organised protests at several places across Pakistan,including the eastern city of Lahore. Officials of the bomb disposal squad said 16 kg of C4 explosives were used in the suicide attack. The bomber's vest was also packed with nails and ball bearings. Funeral prayers were offered today for several of the dead,including Pakistan Rangers personnel Abdul Razzaq,who grappled with the bomber and prevented him from reaching the main body of the procession. No group claimed responsibility for the attack but Interior Minister Rehman Malik blamed the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi,a banned militant group that has often been linked to sectarian violence and attacks on Pakistan's minority communities. Malik also claimed that the rioting which followed the blast was "pre-planned." Shops and buildings were deliberately set on fire by persons who had mingled with the procession,he claimed. "The fire seems to be a planned one and that is why we have ordered an independent investigation," he told reporters. The probe will be conducted by the Federal Investigation Agency,ISI and other agencies,he said. Till yesterday's suicide attack,Karachi was untouched by a recent wave of terrorist strikes across Pakistan that has killed over 500 people since October. However,the city has often been rocked by ethnic,sectarian and political violence. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appealed for calm in the wake of the attack. Zardari said the suicide bombing could have been an attempt to divert the government's attention from the ongoing war against militancy.
