Twin suicide attacks at Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine

Eight people have been killed as a result of twin blasts at the Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine in Karachi.


Ali Syed/Shaheryar Popalzai October 07, 2010

KARACHI: Initial reports suggest that two suicide bombers attacked the Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine killing eight people in Karachi on Thursday.

The blasts went off at the entrance as people were queuing up to enter the shrine. The bodies and injured have been taken to Jinnah and Civil hospital in Karachi.

Talking to the media at the site, Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza said the police had found two heads that possibly belonged to the suicide bombers.

Eight people were killed and over 60 injured as a result of the blast.

A number of political parties and trade associations have called for a strike tomorrow (Friday).

A strike was being observed in Karachi on the call of Sunni Wahdat Council in reaction to the killing of one of its leaders Maulvi Muhammad Ameen.

In a similar incident earlier in July, more than 35 people were killed in triple blasts at the Data Darbar in Lahore.

End of live updates.

10:05pm

Fauzia Wahab on Witness with Quatrina asks "Had there been cameras installed, would it have made any difference?"

PML-N leader Siddiqul Farooq says it is the federal government's fault that a consensus could be reached in Parliament on tackling terrorism.

9:55pm

Secretary Education Sindh says all schools will remain open tomorrow.

All Karachi Trade Union announces one day strike.
S_Faraz_Ahmed Barbaric is the word for what happened in #khitoday,if any self respecting govt they would have left long ago#Pakistan #Karachi

 

YusraSAskari The reality of #Karachi : 2 hours after a blast life returns to normal! Are we resilient or have we just become de- sensitized?

9:35pm

Express News reports the Taliban have claimed responsibility for the suicide attacks on the shrine.

9:20pm

Advisor to Chief Minister Sindh Sharmila Farooqui says that she visited the shrine a day earlier and the electronic gates and the metal detectors were working fine.

Farooqui says “suicide attack is a phenomenon that nobody in this world has been able to curtail.”

She says the security was on high alert and the arrangements were “next to perfect.”

The minister says that she herself is a follower of Abduallah Shah Ghazi and condemns the attack.

9:08pm

Several petrol pumps and markets have closed down around the city, after the blasts.
BeingSamee Family just reached home... Millennium Mall, and other shops in Gulastan e Johar (en route North Nazimabad) closed ! #Karachi

Farman21 @abidifactor no all private and government schools will closed a/c to samaa tv #Karachi #Pakistan

ProPTI #Pakistan why is it so that no special warnings were issued at #karachi shrine specially after yesterday murder of pro taliban scholar

9:02pm

According to Express 24/7 reporter Ahmed Jung the first bomber was being checked at the main gate when he blew himself up, while the second blast took place at the steps which lead up to the shrine.

Express 24/7 reporter Masroor Hausen says unconfirmed reports suggest 90 people have been injured and some of them are in critical states.

9:00pm

Police officials claim to have capture a number of suspects who are being interrogated.
rai_azlan Abdullah Shah Ghazi is a person who is thought to be the reason that the Sea Water do not reach the populated area of#Karachi

madeehai I am a devotee of Allah saieen.. Used to visit Abduallah gazi when I lived in #karachi it is such a peaceful place...why#pakistan

rizwanharun Zulfiqar mirza wants mazars closed for one year#karachi is he made.

quest4clarity And the RAW, Blackwater, Mosad conspiracy theories begin to fly. This is what prevents us from dealing with the REAL problem! #Karachi

8:50pm

MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar says that his party and party chief have strongly condemned this act of cowardice, and that there was a nexus of criminal mafia and extremist elements operating in Karachi.

MQM has also announced one day of mourning.
Rectified_Guy #MQM is the only party that highlighted the Presence of Talibans RT @ravezjunejo#Karachi #Pakistan party#MQM

8:40pm

According to a report in this paper, closed-circuit TV (CCTV) cameras put up all over the city to monitor traffic violations and suspicious activity have been off for the past four days.

8:10pm

More than 60 injured have been brought to the emergency wards, say hospital sources.

Bibi Pak Daman shrine in Lahore has also been closed.
@thekarachikid: What kind of idiots bomb the shrine of a man who according to legends stopped storms and cyclones from hitting Karachi?

8:00pm

Secretary of Auqaf committee has informed IG Sindh that he has ordered all shrines across Karachi be closed.

Members of the forensics lab are gathering evidence to uncover what was used to make the bomb.

According to hospital staff ten injured are in critical condition.
Faria_Khan_ Does anyone really know what is going on in#Pakistan?....Wheels within wheels, especially in #Karachi.#Pakistan

7:45pm

President Asif Zardari, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif and Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain have condemned the attacks.
kashaziz Blasts at Abdullah Shah Ghazi's shrine, 10 killed 65 injured. #Karachi once again gone to dogs.

kashaziz Blast at shrine happened a day after media reports that CCTV cameras across #Karachi are defunct.

 

7:40pm

The Sunni Tehreek has announced a three day mourning.
Amirazher easy solutions all shrines in #Karachi are ordered to close down citing security issues http://t.co/UJhLo6w Na hoga bans na bajeygee bansuri

Farman21 @YusraSAskari yes, there are people protesting in Nazimabad and Lines Area #karachi

7:35pm

According to an eyewitness, the first blast occurred when a guard tried to stop a suicide bomber and he blew himself up.

7:30pm

Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza has said that two heads have been found at the site. He maintained that the security at the site was not lax. He indicated that the blasts might be 'suicidal' in nature.
faisaljamkhan Karachi blasts work of none other then #RAW#Blackwaters #Mosad

DrAwab Raises a grave Question - with Zardari in town security was diverted to protect the unworthy VViP's and NOT the people#karachi #fb

7:25pm

According Seemi Jamali, head of emergency, over 50 injured have been brought to Jinnah Hospital.

According to Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza the blasts occurred at the gate of the shrine.

7:20pm

According to police reports the blasts occurred within the span of a few minutes.

7:15pm

A bomb disposal squad has been dispatched to the site.

The lights have been shut off at the shrine and law enforcement agencies are asking the public not to come near the shrine.

7:10pm

Initial reports suggest that the blasts were caused by a suicide bomber.

7:05pm

The injured are being shifted to Jinnah Hospital. Emergency has been declared at all hospitals in Karachi.

A large number of people were gathered at the shrine.

COMMENTS (42)

Humanity | 13 years ago | Reply "I am neither responsible for their accountability nor am I their supporter. Why was this ridiculous question directed at me Humanity?" There you go. The usual denial and dismissal of the question being asked to wash the crime off the conscience and to move on till the next luke warm condemnation of loss of innocent life carried out by the thaekedaars of islam. BTW, this is not a personal question. This is a question for the collective national conscience. The overwhelming majority, led by the mullah and the self preserving leaders, drove the country into becoming a 'vice and virtue police state'. It is an undeniable fact that the mother of travesties happened when the state succumbed to the mullah and legalize discrimination and division among its citizens. Though various sects disagree among themselves about the definition of a muslim, all the sects banded in their zeal to de-muslimize the Ahmadis and ended up steering the country towards this most un-islamic incarnation. The evil has come home to roost. The 1953 Munir-Kayani report should be mandatory study for each and every Pakistani. It explains very clearly what to do and what not to do to become a viable state once again. An excerpt from the report is included below. If Pakistan is to exist as a respectable nation, it must re-write the constitution based on the Jinnah's mandate of August 11, 1947, guaranteeing the basis freedoms. The nation must adopt the time tested attributes of a respectable nation, namely unity, faith, and discipline. Leave alone the individual to manage his or her covenant with the Creator. "“Pakistan is being taken by the common man, though it is not, as an Islamic State. This belief has been encouraged by the ceaseless clamour for Islam and Islamic State that is being heard from all quarters since the establishment of Pakistan. The phantom of an Islamic State has haunted the Musalman throughout the ages and is a result of the memory of the glorious past when Islam rising like a storm from the least expected quarter of the world—wilds of Arabia—instantly enveloped the world, pulling down from their high pedestal gods who had ruled over man since the creation, uprooting centuries old institutions and superstitions and supplanting all civilisations that had been built on an enslaved humanity………….. He (the Musalman) therefore finds himself in a state of helplessness, waiting for someone to come and help him out of this morass of uncertainty and confusion. And he will go on waiting like this without anything happening. Nothing but a bold re-orientation of Islam to separate the vital from the lifeless can preserve it as a World Idea and convert the Musalman into a citizen of the present and the future world from the archaic in congruity that he is today…. It is this lack of bold and clear thinking, the inability to understand and take decisions which has brought about in Pakistan a confusion which will persist and repeatedly create situations of the kind we have been inquiring into until our leaders have a clear conception of the goal and of the means to reach it. And as long as we rely on the hammer when a file is needed and press Islam into service to solve situations it was never intended to solve, frustration and disappointment must dog our steps. The sublime faith called Islam will live even if our leaders are not there to enforce it. It lives in the individual, in his soul and outlook, in all his relations with God and men, from the cradle to the grave, and our politicians should understand that if Divine commands cannot make or keep a man a Musalman, their statutes will not.”"
Sadia Hussain | 13 years ago | Reply The missing link in the war against terror is that despite of being entangled in this battle for nearly a decade some of us still perceive this war to be imposed upon us. The war against religious extremism is not only war of our survival but the success or failure of this war will determine the future of our coming generations. The attack on Abdullah Shah Ghazi Shrine was not conspiracy by the external actors but an action of our own extremists.
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