Скачать или смотреть Sialkot Bomb Blast 1st October 2004 2 of 7

Hundreds of worshippers of the Muslim Shia minority were packed into the mosque attending Friday prayers.

More than 700 people were in the mosque, adjacent to Imambargah Mistri Abdullah on the Raja Road, when an unidentified youth carrying a briefcase entered the hall, official sources said. The blast claimed 32 sacred lives, while another 100 were severely injured, more than a dozen with permanent disabilities.

"As soon as he got close to the faithful who were listening to the Juma sermon, the man opened his briefcase and then a huge explosion occurred," police quoted a witness as saying.

There was a stampede in the mosque after the blast, which occurred at 1:25pm. It caused a two-foot-deep crater on the floor and left the mosque badly damaged. Windowpanes of some nearby buildings were also shattered.

"There was panic and there was blood and screams all around," said a wounded man. Tension ran high in the city after the blast as mourners, some of them armed, set a police van on fire and threw stones at police and private vehicles, leaving some personnel injured.