Pakistan suicide bomber kills dozens at volleyball

Explosion near north-western town of Lakki Marwat may be retaliation for citizens trying to push out militants

Children march under armed guard in Karachi during a protest over Monday’s suicide attack on Shia Muslims. Photograph: MK Chaudhry/EPA

A suicide bomber has killed at least 25 people at a volleyball tournament near the north-west Pakistan town of Lakki Marwat as militants hit back at a government offensive against the Pakistani Taliban.

“We have confirmed a figure of 25 deaths. There are many more wounded who are being rushed to hospitals in private vehicles,” an official, Habibullah Khan, told Reuters by telephone.

A local police official, Ayub Khan, said the blast may have been retaliation for local people setting up a militia in an attempt to expel militants. Some nearby houses had collapsed and other people may be trapped in the rubble, he said.

“The locality has been a hub of militants. Locals set up a militia and expelled the militants from this area. This attack seems to be reaction to their expulsion,” Khan told reporters.

He said the bomber drove on to the field, in a dense neighbourhood, during the volleyball contest.

Lakki Marwat lies close to North and South Waziristan, two tribal regions where militants have a strong presence. They launched a wave of bombings, killing more than 500 people, in response to a military offensive in South Waziristan launched by the Pakistani army in October. The area is a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban.

Karachi, Pakistan’s commercial capital, nearly shut down today as religious and political leaders called for a strike to protest against violence after a suicide bomber killed 43 people at a religious procession. The Taliban claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack on a huge crowd of Shia Muslims, and threatened more bloodshed.

The attack came as thousands of Shia marched to observe Ashura, the most important day of a month-long mourning period for the seventh-century death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Imam Hussein.

The interior minister, Rehman Malik, who was visiting Karachi, denounced those behind the recent attacks. “They are hired assassins. They are enemies of Pakistan. They are enemies of Islam,” he told reporters.

Karachi’s streets were nearly empty. The stock exchange, which normally operates on the first day of the year, was closed. Police have arrested 18 people after the crowd vented its anger at the police for failing to top the suicide bomber from getting through. Hundreds of shops were destroyed and police were pelted with stones.