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Karachi police chief removed

People visit the destroyed Shiite Muslim mosque Wednesday after a blast that killed 21 people last Monday in Karachi, Pakistan. People visit the destroyed Shiite Muslim mosque Wednesday after a blast that killed 21 people last Monday in Karachi, Pakistan. (Associated PressAssociated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Zarar Khan Associated Press
People visit the destroyed Shiite Muslim mosque Wednesday after a blast that killed 21 people last Monday in Karachi, Pakistan. People visit the destroyed Shiite Muslim mosque Wednesday after a blast that killed 21 people last Monday in Karachi, Pakistan. (Associated PressAssociated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

KARACHI, Pakistan – The Karachi police chief was fired Wednesday, and the government promised more changes after three days of unrest that has left at least 26 people dead and brought Pakistan’s largest city to a standstill.

Government officials struggled to explain what was behind the wave of violence, with one accusing al Qaeda of trying to spark sectarian fighting between the Sunni Muslim majority and the Shiite minority.

The chief minister of Sindh province, Ali Muhammad Maher, met with security chiefs to discuss the worsening situation in the city of 14 million people, triggered by the assassination of a prominent Sunni cleric Sunday and the suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque a day later.

The death toll in the mosque attack rose to 21 on Wednesday, after a 30-year-old man died of his injuries. No one has claimed responsibility for either attack.

Rioting by Sunni and Shiite mobs followed the attacks, with most violence – including gunfire – aimed at hundreds of riot police deployed in different neighborhoods. Shops, cars, buses and government buildings were set afire. Four people, all civilians, died in exchanges of gunfire.

Karachi police chief Asad Malik and two other senior officers were transferred Wednesday, police spokesman Mughis Pirzada said.

“We cannot leave Karachi to the mercy of terrorists and we cannot afford any negligence when the lives and property of people are involved,” Maher said. “The police have to work to control the situation and bring Karachi back to normal.”

Police closed roads and took positions outside the U.S. Consulate, a frequent target of terrorist attacks in recent years, after a Shiite group announced plans to demonstrate there. But by late Wednesday, no protesters had turned up.

The rioters have vented anger at U.S. interests, with mobs chanting “Death to America” and burning KFC and McDonald’s restaurants. Anti-U.S. feeling grew in Pakistan after President Gen. Pervez Musharraf allied the country with Washington in the war on terrorism after Sept. 11, 2001.