Suicide blasts in Pakistani capital, border area kill 20

A bomber blew himself up Tuesday evening in a crowd waiting to hear Pakistan’s suspended chief justice speak, killing at least 16 people and adding a volatile new element to the spasm of violence in the country.

The attack targeting supporters of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry occurred outside a court in the capital, Islamabad, where such violence had been relatively rare.

Meanwhile, another suicide attacker killed three Pakistani soldiers and a passerby in a restive area near the Afghan border where a peace pact between Islamic militants and government forces broke down this week.

Chaudhry had not arrived when the Islamabad blast occurred, but hundreds of his supporters, many of them lawyers, had gathered near a makeshift stage from which he was to address the crowd.

The explosion left the ground covered with dead and wounded, some of them still in their dark suits and ties, with limbs blown off by the force of the blast. Ambulances rushed to the scene to evacuate the dozens of injured.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, and the motive for the attack was unclear. Chaudhry has been locked in a long-running confrontation with President Pervez Musharraf, who has been seeking since March to sideline him. Musharraf denounced the bombing as a “dastardly act” and called for public calm.

The chief justice’s supporters had come under attack in May in the port city of Karachi, where a political party loyal to Musharraf holds sway. Gunmen fired on workers from opposition parties, killing and wounding dozens, and blocked Chaudhry from leaving the Karachi airport and traveling to the venue of his planned speech.

Other large rallies in his support in recent months have been mainly peaceful, however.

Chaudhry’s suspension triggered anti-government protests that coalesced into a nationwide democracy movement calling on Musharraf to step aside and allow free elections.

The chief justice had been seen as a likely obstacle to Musharraf’s plans to have himself reelected by a rubber-stamp assembly, rather than waiting until after parliamentary elections scheduled to take place before year’s end.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on the government’s allegations of misconduct against Chaudhry. If the ruling goes against the Pakistani leader, it will be a serious blow to his efforts to retain both the presidency and his post as army chief at a time of mounting strife.

Islamabad, once largely immune from militant attacks, was the scene of a major confrontation this month between government forces and followers of a pair of radical clerics. The storming of the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, left more than 100 people dead and set off a series of deadly reprisal attacks in the area bordering Afghanistan, which is a haven for many militant groups.

Musharraf has sent thousands of troops into the border zone to confront the militants.

The United States, which has stood by the Pakistani leader during months of crisis, again expressed support for his decision to storm the mosque and deploy troops in the rugged territory straddling the Pakistani-Afghan border. U.S. intelligence reports say elements of the Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorist network have regrouped in the frontier zone, and Musharraf has been criticized for not doing more to prevent that from happening.

The United States and others had been highly critical of a cease-fire accord struck 10 months ago with militants in North Waziristan, one of the semiautonomous tribal regions abutting the border. Militants declared the pact void Sunday, but the government has been talking with tribal leaders to try to revive the agreement.

Richard Boucher, the U.S. assistant secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs, said Musharraf’s recent actions showed “that the government of Pakistan is prepared to move, to act, against a dangerous militancy.”

More attacks against government forces and installations are likely, Boucher said in Washington.

The turmoil of recent weeks has fueled speculation that Musharraf, who seized power eight years ago, might declare a state of emergency and indefinitely postpone elections.

king@latimes.com

Special correspondent Zaidi reported from Islamabad and Times staff writer King from Alanya, Turkey. Special correspondent Zulfiqar Ali in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.