By JANE PERLEZ and WAQAR GILLANI
Published: May 28, 2010
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Gunmen attacked two mosques belonging to a minority sect during Friday prayers in Lahore, seizing worshippers and repelling police officers as they attempted to rescue the hostages., witnesses said.
Sixteen people were killed, according to Sajjad Bhutta, the district administrator of Lahore. Hospital officials spoke of dozens more who were injured.
More than an hour after the attacks started, two gunmen on the roof of a mosque near the rail station were still firing at security forces on the ground below them, said Qamar Suleman, a worshipper who was able to flee.
It was unclear how many people were trapped in the mosques. Most Fridays, about 1,500 to 2,000 people attended prayers at each mosque, according to Munawar Shahid, an Ahmedi community official.
The attacks within minutes of each other at the mosques a few miles apart targeted the Ahmedi community which considers itself as Muslim but which is severely discriminated against under Pakistani law.
As gunfire rattled around him, Mr. Shahid, the Ahmedi community official, said by cell phone that he was hiding in a corner of his office that is adjacent to a mosque near the rail station. “Everybody is trying to save their life,” Mr. Shahid said.
Gunfire and explosions from hand grenades burst from the mosque near the railway station and another in Model Town, an upscale residential area. One television report described gunmen on the roof of one of the mosques.
The attack was apparently orchestrated by Islamic extremists who had issued harsh threats against the Ahmedi sect for the past two years, said I.A. Rehman, the executive director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
“These extremists are not tolerating any other community including, Ahmedis, and it seems the government has failed to control them,” Mr. Rehman said.
“This is shocking and said,” he said.
The State Department report on Human Rights said this year that the estimated two million Ahmedis were forbidden by law from engaging in Muslim practices. The report said 11 Ahmedis were killed last year in Pakistan because of their faith.
Read original article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/world/asia/29pstan.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1275044736-nhUXOVcqsU79ed9dBH2WwA
The so called "Taliban" are actually animals (exaggerated) who has no regard of human life and they are the worst creatures on this planet earth.
ReplyDeleteAhmadiyyat zindabad. No matter how much they try to kill, this jamaat will succeed on and on and inshallah spread to the corners of the earth.
ReplyDeleteAhmadies are non-muslims so im glad they are percecuted and killed. They have beliefs against islam but still call themselves muslims. They are KAFIRS. blow them them,kill them. they deserve it. For their kind info, their founder The ghulam mizra DOG!! must be burning in hell and so will all of the rest ahmadies will.
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