Investigators look at al-Qaeda links to Karachi blast
By DPA

Apr 13, 2006, 19:00 GMT
South Asia News

Islamabad - Pakistani investigators were Thursday looking at possible al-Qaeda links to the suicide bomb attack in Karachi earlier in the week in which 57 people died.

\'We are looking at that aspect,\' Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao told reporters after winding up a discussion on Tuesday\'s bombing in the country\'s National Assembly in Islamabad.

Sherpao, however, refused to divulge any further details saying \'this may hamper the ongoing investigation process.\'

He said all evidence collected so far indicated that the Tuesday bomb blast was a suicide attack, citing body parts found at the site which had not yet been identified or claimed and had been sent to Islambad for DNA testing.

Law enforcement agencies also detained an injured suspect, Hussain Balti, from Jinah Hospital on Wednesday and took him to an undisclosed location for investigation, English daily \'The News\' quoted unnamed police officials as saying.

The Pakistani army has been deployed in Karachi ahead of the funerals of religious leaders killed in the suicide bomb attack. Burials of the three top leaders of Jamaat-e-Ahle Sunnat (JAS) were to take place after the evening prayers.

\'The army has been deployed in sensitive areas and will assist the civil administration in case of any emergency,\' army spokesman Idress Malik, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The JAS also announced a 48-hour deadline on Wednesday for the government to arrest the culprits behind Tuesday\'s attack, which targeted a gathering held to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet Mohammed.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz held a meeting with top intelligence and law enforcment officials in Karachi on Thursday to review the security situation in the violence-plagued city.

He later met with President General Pervez Musharaf at the garrison town of Rawalpindi to discuss the issue.

Meanwhile, businesses remained partially closed and most public transport was off the road on Thursday after a strike called by the business community and supported by religious groups including the six-party alliance of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).

The MMA, which rules the North-Western Frontier Province (NWFP) and which occupies opposition benches at the federal legislature has announced a day of protest on Friday and blames the bombing on security lapses.

Tuesday\'s blast was the second major incident in Karachi in the past four days. At least 30 women and children were killed and nearly 50 wounded on Sunday in a stampede at a religious assembly, also held to mark the anniversary of the Prophet\'s birth.