International
Karachi remains tense http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?slug=Karachi+remains+tense&id=86879
Friday, April 14, 2006 (Karachi):
Troops have been deployed across Karachi to stop rioting that has raged in the city since Tuesday's suicide bombing that killed 57 people.
The blast victims, including top leaders of the moderate Sunni Tehrik group, were buried in a mass funeral on Thursday.
Over 50,000 mourners crammed downtown Karachi streets leading to Alam Shah Bukhari mosque where the slain leaders were laid to rest.
"We will avenge the murder of our leaders," young men in the thronging crowd chanted.
Worsening situation
Tensions have soared in Karachi since a suicide bomber detonated a bomb among religious dignitaries at a prayer gathering in a downtown Karachi park on Tuesday.
The gathering had been arranged by moderate Sunni groups to celebrate the birth of Prophet Muhammad.
Gangs of youths, apparently Tehrik supporters, have been rampaging through the southern suburbs of Karachi where support for the Sunni group runs high.
On Thursday, angry mobs burned vehicles and hurled stones at police, who were deployed to Karachi's streets for the first time since Sunni-Shiite unrest in the early 1990s.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz flew to Karachi and met Sunni leaders and security officials in efforts to calm the seething tensions. (AP)