http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL67516.htm
Pakistan suspects al Qaeda link in two attacks 01 Jun 2005 10:18:01 GMT Source: Reuters By Faisal Aziz KARACHI, June 1 (Reuters) - Pakistani investigators suspect the same al Qaeda-linked militant group was behind suicide attacks in Islamabad and Karachi in the past week in which at least 24 people died, intelligence officials said on Wednesday. The attacks, three days apart, looked like the work of a faction of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi underground group, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Five people, including two attackers, died in an attack on a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Karachi on Monday and six employees of U.S. fast food franchise KFC died in subsequent rioting. Nineteen people, mostly Shi'ites, were killed in a blast at the Bari Imam Muslim shrine in Islamabad three days earlier, the worst ever attack in the capital. "Investigations are still going on but we suspect Lashkar-e-Jhangvi," an intelligence official said. "The pattern of attacks in Karachi and Bari Imam suggest these were carried out by the same group," another said. Police said one attacker survived the Karachi attack and had identified himself as Muhammad Jameel, a member of Jaish-e-Muhammad, another banned militant group. But police they said they believed the wounded man was misleading investigators and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was suspected. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is one of the most feared of Pakistan's militant groups and like Jaish-e-Muhammad has links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. It has been implicated in attacks on Western targets in Karachi, including the murder of U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002 and in two attempts to kill President Pervez Musharraf. SECTARIAN BLOODSHED It has also carried out dozens of deadly attacks on Pakistan's minority Shi'ite community. More than 100 people have been killed in tit-for-tat attacks by majority Sunni and minority Shi'ite militants in the past year alone. Analysts say Sunni militants have revived long-standing sectarian rivalry with the Shi'ites to destabilise Musharraf's government, one of Washington's main anti-terrorist allies. Militants have been enraged by Musharraf's support for U.S. President George W. Bush that has included the arrest of hundreds of al Qaeda suspects. On Tuesday, Musharraf indicated that Pakistan had handed over to the United States Abu Faraj Farj al Liby, a Libyan U.S. counter-terrorism agents say became al Qaeda's third-most important figure two years ago. Pakistan says al Liby was al Qaeda's operations chief and was behind two assassination attempts against Musharraf in December 2003. Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's leading mainstream Islamist party, called a strike in Karachi on Wednesday to protest the government's failure to prevent recent violence, that included the assassination of its deputy chief in the city on Monday. Financial markets ignored the strike, but many businesses, including shopping centres, kept shutters down, fearing violence. "We have seen violence in most of the previous strikes, so I have decided not to open my shop today, just to avoid any risk," said Abdul Hameed, a shop owner at Karachi's electronics market. Qazi Hussain Ahmed, head of Jamaat-e-Islami, rejected suggestions that the attacks were the work of religious groups. "Actually all these terrorist activities are being carried out at the behest of the United States, and the government is willingly allowing it to happen," he told Reuters. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. 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