Quetta, Mar 02: Armed men opened fire on Shiite Muslim worshippers during a religious procession in a city in southwestern Pakistan today, killing at least 37 people and wounding more than 150 others, authorities said. The city Mayor declared an immediate curfew. Officials reported an explosion and gunfire in a congested area of Quetta, the main city in southwest Baluchistan province, as a procession of hundreds of Shiite Muslims marking Ashoura, the most important day in the Muslim holy month of Muharram, passed by.

Soon after, a Sunni Muslim mosque, a television network office and several shops were set afire as Shiites rioted in parts of the city, and an exchange of gunfire took place near the scene of the initial attack, police said.

Qamar Zaman, an assistant police inspector in Quetta, said that 29 people had been confirmed dead and more than 150 injured. Two senior federal government officials confirmed the death toll on condition of anonymity.

Hospitals were overwhelmed, and mosques appealed for donations of blood.

The Iraqi Governing Council offered condolences to relatives of the dead and declared three days of national mourning. Council member Adnan Pachachi read out a statement condemning "terrorists" for trying to "destabilise the country through sectarian strife".
It was the first time in decades that Iraq`s majority Shia community had been able to freely observe Ashura, commemorating the death of Imam Hussein in 680.

Bureau Report