TTP claims responsibility for Karachi, Rawalpindi blasts

Tehrike-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Thursday claimed responsibility for twin bomb attacks targeting Shiites in Karachi and Rawalpindi, which killed more than 30 people. In two other attacks for which no one claimed responsibility, militants attacked a police post on Thursday on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing one police official and abducting another. In the southwestern city of Quetta Wednesday an army vehicle escorting children home from school was targeted, killing four soldiers and a woman. TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, referring to the suicide bombing, said that Shiites are “defiling the Prophet (PBUH).” “We have a war of belief with Shiites,” Ehsan said. “They are blasphemers. We will continue attacking them.” The Taliban has been fighting an insurgency against security forces since 2007, one of the chief reasons why Pakistan so rarely hosts international events. “It seems the new breed of religious zealots wanted to tell the D8 dignitaries all about the mess the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has been turned into,” said the country’s independent human rights commission in a statement. Shiites, targeted in three explosions, are now receiving death threat text messages on cellphones ahead of a key event in their religious calendar that has been tainted by violence in the past. “Kill, Kill, Shiites,” say the text warnings to members of the minority sect. More than 300 Shiites have been killed in Pakistan so far this year in sectarian conflict, according to human rights groups. “Genocide against Shiites is already taking place in Pakistan so the text messages don’t really matter that much,” said Jalal Haider, who received a text threat. About 50,000 people are expected to march through the streets of Islamabad on Saturday and thousands of security personnel are expected to be deployed in a bid to avoid attacks. The Pakistani government increases security every Muharram to protect Shiites. But attacks regularly occur, and activists criticize the government for not doing enough to safeguard the minority sect. Hamid Ali Shah Moasvi, head of the main Shiite political party in Pakistan, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Fiqh Jafariya, condemned the recent attacks, but vowed that Shiites would not be deterred from attending religious gatherings during Muharram.