Karachi, Pakistan
A suicide bomber killed nearly 50 people in Karachi this week at an outdoor prayer meeting to mark the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed. Several leaders of the Sunni organization Jamaat-e-Ahle Sunnat were among the dead, and scores of people were wounded. Shortly after the blast, crowds of young men in green headbands rioted throughout the city, setting cars on fire and attacking police. A few days earlier, at least 30 women and children were accidentally trampled to death at another ceremony to honor Mohammed’s birth, this one at a Karachi mosque. The Barelvi sect of Sunni Islam, dominant in Pakistan, celebrates Mohammed’s birth for the whole month of Rabi-ul-Awal.
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