98 Killed, 480 Injured in Pakistan Riots

Rioters battled in back streets and set fire to hundreds of homes and shops today in Karachi, pushing the death toll from ethnic violence to nearly 100 dead and more than 480 wounded.

It was the worst rioting in Karachi since Pakistan gained independence in 1947.

The melees erupted late Saturday after drug and weapons raids by police. They continued Sunday and today.

Rioters looted shops, banks and homes and set them afire all over the city, eyewitnesses said.

The army had orders to shoot rioters on sight, and the navy also was called in. However, the military forces stayed in their vehicles, and much of the rioting took place in alleys and streets too narrow for them, witnesses said.

By midnight Sunday, hospital officials reported a total of 51 dead and more than 300 injured. Another 47 people died in rioting today, doctors said, and 180 were injured.

Some of the dead were fatally shot, while others were stabbed to death or burned alive, the hospital officials said.

Nearly 400 shops and homes were burned, witnesses said.

Mohammed Sharfuddin, a snack shop owner, said: “Women, children and boys as young as 12 were dragged out of their homes by the attackers and stabbed, or shot at point-blank range. It was a nightmare.”

The rioting pitted Pathans against Biharis and Mohajirs. Witnesses said the Pathans attacked the other groups with shotguns and automatic weapons in anger over police raids in a Pathan neighborhood.

The Pathans, semi-nomadic tribespeople from northwest Pakistan famous for their fierce resistance to British colonialism, control a significant portion of drug smuggling and arms running in Pakistan.

The Pathans have accused the Mohajirs of constantly agitating for a government crackdown.