Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak

5
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t humping their chests, hundreds of Shia mourners had crammed
the narrow lane in the western Pakistani city of Quetta on the
afternoon of 2 March 2004. The annual procession commemorating
the martyrdom in the sixth century of Imam Hussein, the grandson
of the Prophet Mohammed, moved at snail’s pace. Suddenly, a huge
explosion sent a massive shudder through the crowd. All hell broke
loose as gunmen on the rooftop of surrounding buildings opened
indiscriminate machine-gun fire and lobbed grenades into the
procession. Meanwhile, two suicide bombers detonated themselves in
the middle of the procession. Their bodies dangled from the balcony
over the electricity wires. The ghastly carnage left at least 44 people
dead and scores of others wounded. 1
It was the third time in six months that the army garrison town
bordering Afghanistan had been drenched in blood by Sunni
militants. In July 2003 it had witnessed one of the deadliest acts of
religious violence in the country’s history, when attackers armed with
machine guns and grenades stormed a Shia mosque. More than 2,000
worshippers were praying inside. The three gunmen first opened fire
with automatic weapons and then two of them removed the pins from
the grenades they were carrying, causing terrifying explosions and