Suni Muslim kill other Muslim in Mosque BBC News Pakistan Iran May 28 10
Pakistan mosque attacks kill 76
Militants assault two mosques in Lahore with grenades, guns and suicide vests. The near-simultaneous raids target the Ahmadis, a beleaguered minority group.
Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan —
Militants armed with grenades, guns and suicide vests infiltrated two mosques belonging to a minority sect Friday, killing at least 76 people in coordinated attacks that illustrated the vulnerability of groups considered outside the mainstream of Pakistani society.
The sect, the Ahmadis, is one of the country's most beleaguered minority groups. Numbering about 4 million, they consider themselves Muslims but believe their late 19th century founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was a prophet of God -- a heresy for many Pakistani Muslims. Members suffer severe discrimination in Pakistan and are legally barred from calling themselves Muslims.
The attacks in the eastern city of Lahore occurred during Friday prayers, when Ahmadis fill two of the sect's mosques in the neighborhoods of Model Town and Garhi Shahu. In both cases, militants were able to easily get inside the mosques, where they sprayed gunfire and threw grenades at terrified worshippers. At the mosque in Garhi Shahu, two of the attackers wore suicide vests that they detonated inside the main hall. At least 91 people were injured in the attacks.
An Ahmadi elder from the Model Town mosque said the mosque had been getting threatening phone calls for some time and had reported the threats to Lahore police. "We asked the government and police several times to enhance our security, but we didn't get anything," said the elder, who spoke on condition that his name not be used because he feared retribution.
Geo, a Pakistani television channel, reported that the Punjabi Taliban, a wing of the Pakistani Taliban made up of members of several Punjab extremist groups, claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The attacks on the Ahmadi community of Lahore come just weeks after a wave of kidnappings and murders of Ahmadi members in the central Punjab city of Faisalabad. Punjab is Pakistan's wealthiest and largest province, but it is rife with violent sectarian groups that prey on religious minorities including Ahmadis, Christians and Shitte Muslims.
The extremist groups, which include Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba, have been officially banned for years, but their organizations are allowed to operate freely throughout Punjab province. Experts say the provincial government, led by the country's largest opposition party, the PML-N, has shied away from cracking down because those groups represent large constituencies that provide political support.
More recently, members of these militant groups have joined forces with the Pakistani Taliban and have expanded their focus beyond sectarian targets to include attacks on military and government buildings. The 2009 siege of Pakistani army headquarters in Rawalpindi was led by a former Lashkar-e-Jhangvi member. That attacked killed 19 people.
Asma Jehangir, chairwoman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a watchdog group, said in a statement Friday that her commission "is concerned over the spread of sectarian extremism, and considers it a huge threat to the security of Pakistani society."
"For more than a year, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has been giving intimations to the Punjab government about threats being made to the Ahmadi community," Jehangir continued. "Though the Punjab government had apparently taken some steps to enhance security, they were not enough to stop well-planned and comprehensive terror attacks. That was proved by the attacks Friday."
Witnesses said one of the three assailants who attacked the Model Town mosque killed a security guard at a front gate and then ran into the mosque while another attacker shot through a window at the back of the building to get inside. Hundreds of worshippers inside scurried for cover as the militants fired indiscriminately.
An Ahmadi who would only give his first name, Shahzad, said he and other followers hid on an upper floor while gunfire rang out in the building's main hall.
"They were throwing grenades and firing everywhere," Shahzad said. "Our leader told us to stay calm and asked us to pray quietly. I was very afraid and very sure that the terrorists would come upstairs and kill us."
Shahzad said when he looked down onto the main floor, he saw several worshippers lying in pools of blood, many of them with gunshot wounds to their heads. Nearby, a militant clutching a Kalashnikov assault rifle lay seriously injured, gasping for breath.
5 Iranin been executed, their Body is Missing. Khamenei ate the Body of Executed Prisoners.
مرگ بر حضرت آيت الله العظمی سيد علی خامنه ای (مد ظله العالی) ادم خوار
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Lahore attack on a Police training centre many Policemen killed Part 1by mqmloveyou16,850 views
how many christians have al-qaida killed
how many muslims have they killed
how many jews have they killed
then u will get ur answer on who controls al-qaida
ruthless6661 1 month ago
Even Muslims cannot get along well with each other. Courtesy of Muhammad's martial legacy.
divinegod102 1 month ago
Anyone who believes in Islam should be cornholed by a goat......
rlibos 7 months ago
bar wahabi lanat beshumarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
maalibangash26 8 months ago
you fuck off Extremist , you better blow yourself up including your stinky muslim family lol crazy people
Ces674 9 months ago
@Ces674 fuck off
helmandtigers 9 months ago
Jesus is the answer. Be ready to face him . Im not kidding .
Ces674 10 months ago
for ur kind infromation the people killed in this attack were not muslims.they r qadyani .known as ahmadia religion.they beleive that mirza ghulam ahmad belonged to indian punjab si their prophet nauzbillah min zalik.in 1974 they were announced non muslims by ex pakistan prime minister zulfiqar ali bhuto nd later on saudia .egypt.lebya and most of other muslim countries also anncounced them as non muslims.
MrMuaviakhan 11 months ago
@TheRocknrollrebel Thank you. Finally a decent comment
theishjort 1 year ago
A man without religion is like a fish without a bicycle.
If you need a religion to judge what's good or wrong, that's realy sick. Religion is for the weak.
TheRocknrollrebel 1 year ago 2