10 Killed In Bombing, Shooting Outside Pakistan Mosque

A bomb on a motorbike exploded Friday outside a packed Muslim mosque and gunmen shot at people running to aid the wounded. At least 10 people died, seven of them children, in the latest terrorist assault to rock this tormented city.

The attack came two days after two American consulate employees were gunned down in Pakistan’s largest city, where more than 400 people have died in sectarian violence this year.

There was no evidence linking Friday’s attack to the killing of the two Americans. However, both were horrific examples of the surging violence that has convulsed Karachi and threatens to undermine Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s government.

Children accounted for seven of the dead and half of the 28 wounded in the thundering explosion outside the main entrance of the Hussaini Jamia Mosque in east Karachi. The children were playing while hundreds of worshipers crammed the mosque during afternoon prayers on the Muslim sabbath.

Mohammed Ali, his tan clothes smeared with blood, said he picked up four dead or badly wounded children and put them in cars. One young boy was decapitated by the blast, he said.

As people rushed to rescue the wounded, the terrorists opened fire with automatic rifles.