Shiites Angered After Pakistan Bombing Kills 81 People
By: Melissa Garrett
Updated: February 17, 2013
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) -- Shiite leaders in southwestern Pakistan are considering a new protests against the local government after a bombing yesterday that killed at least 81 people, mostly from their sect.
Some 160 people were also wounded in the blast at a produce market in Quetta. The attack underlined the precarious situation for Shiites living in a majority Sunni country where many extremist groups don't consider them real Muslims.
It's the second such attack in the city of Quetta this year. Friends and relatives of the dead gathered in Shiite mosques today, where 60 victims were laid out in coffins.
Meanwhile, religious leaders have been debating whether to protest by refusing to bury the dead, as they did after January's attack. After that bombing, which killed 86 people, Shiites camped for four days in the street alongside the coffins of their loved ones. Eventually the country's prime minister ordered a shake-up in the regional administration, putting the local governor in charge of the whole province
Some 160 people were also wounded in the blast at a produce market in Quetta. The attack underlined the precarious situation for Shiites living in a majority Sunni country where many extremist groups don't consider them real Muslims.
It's the second such attack in the city of Quetta this year. Friends and relatives of the dead gathered in Shiite mosques today, where 60 victims were laid out in coffins.
Meanwhile, religious leaders have been debating whether to protest by refusing to bury the dead, as they did after January's attack. After that bombing, which killed 86 people, Shiites camped for four days in the street alongside the coffins of their loved ones. Eventually the country's prime minister ordered a shake-up in the regional administration, putting the local governor in charge of the whole province
