www.iht.com/articles/2005/05/31/asia/web.0531pakistan.php
KARACHI, Pakistan Police on Tuesday recovered bodies of six employees of a KFC restaurant that was set on fire by a mob angry over a suicide attack at a Shiite mosque in Karachi, raising the overall death toll in the violence to 11, officials said. Four of the victims at the fast-food chicken restaurant were burned to de ath while the two others froze to death after taking refuge in a refrige ration unit at the restaurant, senior police official Manzoor Mughal sai d The restaurant was targeted after Mondays attack on the Madinatul Ilm Ima mbargah mosque in the southern city of Karachi. Three suicide attackers clashed with police and exploded a bomb at the mosque in violence that k illed two of the attackers, two policemen and one worshipper and wounded 26. Sunni Muslim extremists were suspected in the mosque attack, and it was u nclear why the KFC restaurant was targeted in retaliatory rioting, along with arson attacks on vehicles, shops, three bank branches and three ga s stations. However, the restaurant is heavily associated with the US and rioters i n Pakistan typically attack symbols of Washington while on a rampage. Pervez Musharraf a llied the country with Washington in the war on terror after Sept. Rauf Siddiqi, home minister of Sindh province, of which Karachi is the ca pital, condemned the mosque bombing and said security had been put on hi gh alert. The three attackers stole an automatic weapon from a police guard outside the mosque before shooting him dead. Other policemen deployed there ope ned fire, killing one of the attackers and wounding another, and an offi cer also was killed. On Tuesday, the third attacker, who was being treated at a hospital, told police that his name was Mohammed Jamil and that he was from outlawed J aish-e-Mohammed militant group, according to a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Jaish-e-Mohammed is accused of orchestrating several attacks against mino rity Christians, Shiites and government officials. The group is mainly f ighting Indian forces in Indias part of Kashmir, but its supporters are also known for their links with al-Qaida. The third attacker managed to get inside the mosque and detonated a bomb strapped to his body, killing himself and one worshipper and wounding 26 other people, Mughal said. It appeared to be a low-intensity bomb because it did not cause major dam age, said Mushtaq Shah, chief of police operations in Karachi. The attack came three days after a suspected suicide bomber attacked a Sh iite religious gathering during a festival at a shrine near Islamabad, P akistans capital, killing about 20 people and injuring dozens. We are trying to find a link between them, he told the private Geo television station. Pakistan has a history of sectarian violence, mostly blamed on rival majo rity Sunni and minority Shiite extremist groups. About 80 percent of Pak istans 150 million people are Sunnis and 17 percent Shiites. Most of the Muslims live together peacefully, but small groups of militan ts on both sides stage attacks.
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