Thousands attend funerals for Pak bomb victims; toll reaches 33

Shouting anti-Taliban slogans and beating their chests, thousands of mourners today attended the collective burial procession of 21 people killed in the twin bombings in Pakistan's commercial hub as the death toll from the assault rose to 33.

Sindh's health minister Sagheer Ahmed confirmed the death of 33 people in the two bomb attacks and put the toll of injured to 167.

The casualties were caused when a suicide bomber here rammed his explosives-rigged motorcycle into a bus packed with
Shia mourners during the processions to mark the festival of
Arbaeen and in an attack on the Jinnah hospital which was
treating the victims of the first bomb strike yesterday.

Muslims every year mark Arbaeen, the final day of the 40-day mourning period for Prophet Mohammad's grandson Imam Hussein who was killed along with his family and friends in
the Iraqi city of Karbala in 681 A.D.

The TV channels broadcast live footage of the funerals showing men and women clad in black and carrying black flags beating their chest. The mourners raised anti-Taliban slogans when the bodies of the victims were brought for the funeral.

The mourners demanded speedy justice and urged the government to take immediate steps to arrest the culprits
guilty of killing innocent men, women and children.

Thousands of policemen had sealed off the area to avoid any untoward incident. Police and paramilitary rangers patrolled the streets and sensitive areas.

The teeming metropolis of 18 million people wore a deserted look with the roads blocked, shops, business centres and educational institutions closed. There were reports of protests by angry Shia groups in parts of Karachi.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but in the past similar assaults on Shias were blamed on extremist Sunni armed groups linked to Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaeda. 

Karachi has a history of sectarian violence and city has been tense over the past few weeks due to armed clashes between rival political parties that have left dozens dead. 

There were different statements on the two blasts with some officials saying both were suicide attacks while others claimed the blasts took place because of timer explosives. 

Meanwhile, the death toll in the bombings rose to 33. 

"Six people died overnight while two more succumbed to injuries this morning, raising the death toll to 33," Ahmad said in a statement.

"At the moment we have 88 people still under treatment in the hospitals and the condition of some of them is critical," he said.

The Shia Ulema Council and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the political party that controls Karachi, called for three days of mourning to protest the attacks. 

his was the second major sectarian strike in the city within two months. Earlier in December, a powerful bomb exploded in the main Shia procession during Ashura killing 44 people and wounding many others.