Man Held by Pakistan May Be Tied to Attack (in Quetta )

The Las Vegas Sun ^ | March 08, 2004 at 9:20:42 PST | ASSOCIATED PRESS

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Today: March 08, 2004 at 9:20:42 PST

Man Held by Pakistan May Be Tied to Attack

ASSOCIATED PRESS

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) -

A suspected Islamic militant already in police custody may have had a hand in the massacre of 44 people at a religious procession last week, Pakistani authorities said Monday.

Shafiq-ur Rahman was in jail on kidnapping charges last Tuesday when gunmen opened fire on a Shiite Muslim procession, but Quetta police chief Shoaib Suddle said authorities believe he may have been behind the attacks.

Suddle said that during interrogation Rahman had confessed to taking part in past attacks on Shiites in the southern city, including a June attack on Shiite police trainees and a July attack on a Shiite mosque that killed more than 50 worshippers.

"Since he has acknowledged involvement in the June and July attacks, we think he may be involved one way or the other in the March 2 attack," Suddle said.

He gave no details on the evidence against Rahman.

Three suspects hurled grenades and fired shots into the procession on Ashoura, a day when Islam's Shiite faithful mark the death of a revered 7th-century leader. They then detonated grenades and explosives strapped to their bodies.

At least 25 people, all suspected members of the Sunni militant Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba groups, have been arrested since the attack.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is closely linked to Afghanistan's former rulers, the Taliban militia, and is believed to have hidden members of the al-Qaida terror network after the Sept. 11 attacks. The group has been implicated in the 2002 slaying of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and numerous church and bus bombings.

Suddle said Rahman was a hardened militant who had trained in Afghanistan when it was ruled by the Taliban, but declined to say whether he belonged to the Sunni militant groups.

Although most of Pakistan's Sunnis and Shiites live peacefully together, small radical groups on both sides are responsible for frequent attacks. All but 3 percent of Pakistan's people are Muslim, and Sunnis outnumber Shiites 4-1.

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[ken5050]

"HEADS WILL ROLL!!"... ( and over there, it's literally true...)

[Fun Bob]

Religion of Peace bump!

miserable failure miserable failure miserable failure miserable failure war criminal

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I like that line of links!

By the way what Teresa is doing:

When Teresa Heinz-Kerry arrived, she handed me a pin that read in the center:
“Asses of Evil”
with “Bush”, “Cheney”, “Rumsfeld” and “Ashcroft” surrounding it.