11 dead in Pakistan, KFC burned down

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Here we go with more Anti US Sediment

By Mazhar Abbas in Karachi
Tuesday, 31 May , 2005, 13:19
Six workers of the US fast food chain KFC died when a restaurant was torched by a mob protesting the suicide bombing of a mosque in Karachi that killed five others, police said Tuesday.

Monday's attack on the minority Shiite mosque in a middle-class neighbourhood and the ensuing riots have triggered fears that a new wave of sectarian violence might spread across the volatile Islamic republic.

Four employees of the restaurant, whose outlets are often targeted during outbursts of anti-American anger in Pakistan, burned to death while another two froze to death after hiding in the walk-in cold storage, police said.

"It was very sad scene. When we found the bodies in the freezer one of them had a cellphone in his hand with a missed call from his wife," Karachi fire brigade chief Azam Ali told AFP.

The mob went on the rampage after three attackers believed to be from a militant Sunni Muslim organisation stormed the Shiite Madinat-ul-Ilm mosque in Karachi's Gulshan district during evening prayers late Monday.

One of the assailants died in a gunbattle with police who were standing guard at the door of the building. The other blew himself up and the third sustained a serious head injury, apparently in a fall, city police chief Tariq Jamil told AFP.

Two worshippers and a policeman also died in the attack, while 21 people were hospitalised, four of them in a critical condition.

Hospital officials said the surviving attacker had regained consciousness.

"He identified himself as Jamil," senior police investigator Manzoor Mughal told AFP.

Mughal said the man said he was affiliated to the Sunni militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad, banned by President Pervez Musharraf in 2001.

But he said "normally these militants hide the actual facts and it takes time to verify their identity."

Police were guarding the room of the suspect but doctors would not allow them to interrogate him.

"The proper investigation would start when he is fully recovered," Mughal said.

The man may help police uncover possible links to a suicide bombing on Friday which killed 19 people, most of them Shiites, at a shrine in Islamabad.

Security forces were placed on high alert following the Islamabad blast, but police were unable to stop the Shiite mob in Karachi, which also torched two gas stations and a number of vehicles in addition to the KFC outlet.

Police and firemen said they found two bodies lying on the ground when they opened the door of the gutted restaurant after family members informed the KFC management that the employees did not return home late into the night.

During the search police found two more bodies from the first floor while the bodies of two other employees were found frozen in the KFC cold storage, Jamil, the city police chief, told AFP.

Five of the victims were aged between 25 and 30 years while the sixth was a guard aged about 50, Jamil said.

Thousands of Shiite and majority Sunni Muslims have been killed in Pakistan in recent years, with attacks including bomb blasts, suicide bombings and targeted killings. Last year 160 people were killed.

Sectarian extremist groups are opposed to Musharraf for leading a crackdown on Islamic militancy and their associates from the Al-Qaeda terror network of Osama bin Laden.

Security has been tightened in Karachi as funeral prayers of the blast victims were scheduled in the same mosque while separate burials of the arson victims were also expected later in the day.

Tension was already high in volatile Karachi after the abduction and murder of a local leader of the main fundamentalist Jamaat-i-Islami party in the city on Monday.

http://sify.com/news/international/fullstory.php?id=13813103
 
Hi,


I know the Extent of Anti US Sentiments Doody .......... But in this particaular case it was sectarian violence ............... It was not directed Directly Against USA ........... but Shiite and Sunni Muslim's Ongoing Voilance ......... It was just that Some Opportunists have taken this Opportunity to do what they wanted to do long time ............ this KFC has been targetted many times Before also .........This time there were Already sectarian Violence in the Street why not just take Advantage and Blow The KFC too ..... Because it's in the way and is in some wayAfflited to the West :? :( :cry:


Peace
-=SF_13=-
 
Thanks for the view from "over there." It is always better to hear about incidents from the region rather than the press.

I just was not surprised when a symbol of America was attacked. With the War in Iraq, the Newsweek article and the mutiple abuse alligations, the muslim world does not favor us one bit.
 
Some Pakistanis See U.S. As Symbol of Woes

Hi,



Source:Associated Press

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A bomb kills worshippers at a Shiite Muslim shrine, and some mourners shout "Down with America!" Days later, a suicide bomber strikes a Shiite mosque and an angry crowd torches a nearby KFC restaurant.

Sectarian violence is nothing new in Pakistan, where a small minority of Sunni and Shiite militants keep up a torrid pace of atrocities each year. Now, however, anger over the bloodshed is being vented at a seemingly unrelated target — the United States.

Hatred of America is running high in the wake of allegations in Newsweek magazine — since retracted — that U.S. interrogators desecrated Islam's holy book, the Quran, at Guantanamo Bay prison, said Allama Hassan Turabi, a senior Shiite leader in the southern city of Karachi.

Anger over America's treatment of Muslims bubbled over following an attack on a mosque in Karachi on Monday, when three assailants clashed with police before setting off a bomb that killed two attackers, two policemen, one worshipper and wounded 26.

A crowd gathered outside the mosque to protest the bloodletting, setting fire to cars, shops and gas stations and clashing with police. The mob soon turned its rage on a nearby KFC restaurant, knocking out windows and setting it ablaze. Four workers were found burned to death and two others died after hiding in a freezer.

"People went mad, they had no idea what they were doing," said Turabi. "People hate America. For many people in Pakistan, KFC is a symbol of America."

Shiites in particular are feeling targeted, and their frustration is exploding into rage, said Samina Ahmed, an analyst with the International Crisis Group.

"There are perceptions that the United States is anti-Islam," she said. "But what it really is is frustration, a sense of insecurity. They don't know what to do, so anger can turn to attacks on U.S. symbols."

A student who said he was nearby when the KFC was targeted summed up the mood on the street.

"We hate America because Americans are responsible for the miseries of all Muslims in the world," said Nisar Haider, a spokesman for the Immamia Student Organization.

The Karachi mosque bombing came just three days after a blast ripped through a crowded Muslim shrine where hundreds of worshippers were enjoying a popular annual festival in Islamabad. About 20 worshippers were killed and dozens wounded.

Officials were clearly rattled by the spike in violence.

"These incidents are happening one after the other," said Rauf Siddiqi, home minister of Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital. "We are trying to find a link between them. This is a criminal and merciless attack."

Most Pakistani Sunnis and Shiites live together peacefully, and Muslim leaders have been quick to condemn the killings.

And not all rallies turn violent, of course.

A large but peaceful gathering Friday in Islamabad called for punishing those involved in mishandling the Quran. The "sacrilege of the U.S. extremists" was denounced, but speakers also repeatedly condemned the Islamabad shrine attack and called for unity among Muslims.

"Everybody condemns the bombings," said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, a lawmaker and leader of the six-party religious alliance Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, or United Action Forum. "Sunnis and Shiites come together to condemn them."

He stressed that protests are not only directed at the United States, and said the elimination of Muslim-on-Muslim extremism is a major concern cited at rallies.

"There have been demonstrations in Pakistan against such bombings," he said. "There have been strikes and entire cities have closed down in protest against them."



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Angry mobs went on the rampage in Karachi shortly after an attack on a Shia mosque on Monday.

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This Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet was among shops and vehicles torched.

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What's Left of it ...Four employees burned to death in the KFC restaurant. Two others died in a cold storage room they had hidden in.




Peace
-=SF_13=-
 
"It was very sad scene. When we found the bodies in the freezer one of them had a cellphone in his hand with a missed call from his wife," Karachi fire brigade chief Azam Ali told AFP.

Huh? If he could get a call in, howcome he couldn't get a call out in time for somebody to come and get them out of the freezer?
 
Molly Pitcher said:
"It was very sad scene. When we found the bodies in the freezer one of them had a cellphone in his hand with a missed call from his wife," Karachi fire brigade chief Azam Ali told AFP.

Huh? If he could get a call in, howcome he couldn't get a call out in time for somebody to come and get them out of the freezer?

Here is a highly possible thesis:

The suscriber's Cell phone service was not avialable during the time of the attack or it happens to be that Cell Phone Service in this region often have limited Satellite Feeds and services. So therefore he was unable to make a call because of this.

When Cell Phone service resumes during the morning, the Wife would call worry he did not return home. But it was too late. Tragic. Very Tragic.
 
Hi,

Huh? If he could get a call in, howcome he couldn't get a call out in time for somebody to come and get them out of the freezer?

With Riots and sectarian violence In the Streets i don't think Anybody would have dared to Venture out on the Streets in the Night ............. Secong the KFC was on Fire ............ anybody would have to wait till the FireFighters would Drowze the fire to enter the KFC.


Peace
-=SF-13=-
 
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