Pakistan: Ashura terror in Kashmir, Karachi
A suicide bomb in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan-administrated Kashmir, killed at least 15 and injured over 100 in an attack on a Shi'ite religious procession marking the Ashura holy period Dec. 28, while another explosion near a procession in the port city of Karachi injured 35. Police said the Karachi blast was triggered by a build-up of gas in a manhole, but doctors who treated the victims found pellets in the bodies, suggesting that an explosive device was detonated. (ANI, Dec. 28)
The blasts came hours after at least eight militants were killed in air strikes and clashes with government troops in Orakzai Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Government forces reportedly targeted members of the Sturikhel tribe. (Daily Times, Dec. 28)
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More terror in Pakistan
Presumed Taliban militants blew up a girls' school near Peshawar Dec. 28. The five-room government primary girls school in Shabqadar town was destroyed by two pre-planted bombs. A nearby house was also damaged, but there were no casualties. A rocket attack also damaged the building of a private school at Killi Bangulzai in Quetta late on Dec. 29. Taliban, opposed to female education, have destroyed hundreds of girls' schools in the North West Frontier Province in recent years. (Daily Times, Dec. 30)
Conspiracy behind Karachi clashes?
In Sunni-Shi'ite riots following the Karachi blast, some 500 buildings were torched, state vehicles vandalized, and three markets destroyed. France24 has dramatic photos, but up-plays vague speculations that "the supposed riots were too well organised to have been instigated spontaneously." Meanwhile, Voice of America reports that the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The last time there were communal clashes in Karachi, there were similar conspiracy theories.
Taliban strike back against volleyball
A suicide car bomb exploded Jan. 1 in the middle of a group of men playing volleyball in a residential neighborhood in the Lakki Marwat district of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, killing 75 and wounding 60. Some of the casualties were residents from houses around the volleyball court. (CNN, Jan. 1)