ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Attacks on Shi'ite Muslims in Pakistan and Iraq this week have killed at least 185 people and exposed the deep fissures that have opened in two key battlegrounds in the US-led war on terror.
The carnage - while not necessarily linked - was apparently carried out by militants marching to the same anti-American drumbeat and feeding off sectarian tensions that have been around for centuries.
"The terrorist attacks in both these places are by people who follow the same philosophy of religious extremism," said Mehdi Hassan, a political analyst and retired professor from Punjab University in Lahore. "Pakistan and Iraq have one thing in common - and that is the policies of the US and the resentment of those policies."
There have been no claims of responsibility in either country for the attacks on Tuesday, one of the holiest days on the Shi'ite calendar, but the killings bore a similar pattern.
In the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, three suicide bombers detonated explosives at the Kazimiya shrine, killing 58 and wounding 200. In the holy city of Karbala in southern Iraq, at least one suicide attacker blew himself up and preset explosives detonated, killing 85 and wounding over 200.
Less than two hours later, at least three attackers in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta opened fire and hurled grenades at a procession of Shi'ite worshipers, then blew themselves up as troops moved in. Two attackers died and the other was in custody in critical condition. At least 42 people were killed, including the attackers.
Tuesday was Ashoura, the climax of the 10-day festival marking the killing of the 7th-century Shi'ite saint Imam Hussein. The festival often sparks bloodshed across the Muslim world.
In both Pakistan and Iraq, thousands of Shi'ites were gathered for processions and other rituals when the attacks took place.
Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said there was no evidence that the Iraq and Pakistan attacks were linked.
But others said the attacks bore the hallmarks of international terror.
"What happened in Quetta, this was a massive operation, and it would have required Arab elements, maybe even al-Qaida," Sen. Nisar Memon of the ruling PML-Q party told The Associated Press. "I think they would like to destabilize the country, particularly President (Pervez) Musharraf."
In Iraq, US Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt identified Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an al-Qaida-linked Jordanian militant who trained with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, as a chief suspect in the attacks there, and said the aim was to spark a Sunni-Shi'ite civil war.
Since ousting President Saddam Hussein, US forces have struggled to put down a fierce insurgency and bring order to Iraq. On Tuesday, many Iraqis accused American forces of orchestrating the bloodshed or at least failing to prevent it.
Sectarian violence is nothing new in Pakistan, but the level of attacks on Shi'ites, minority Christians and foreigners has been striking since the September 11, 2001, attacks in the US.
Though no al-Qaida nexus has been traced to the Quetta attack, past sectarian violence in the restive city has been linked to bin Laden's terror network.
Daud Badini, a leading suspect in a July 2003 attack that killed 50 Shi'ite worshipers in Quetta, was a brother-in-law of Ramzi Yousef, who is serving a life term in the US for the 1993 World Trade Center bombings. Badini remains at large, but four other suspects from the outlawed Pakistani Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi have been jailed for 2003 killings in Quetta.
Allama Mahdi Najfi, the chief Shi'ite Muslim cleric in Quetta, blamed pro-Taliban and al-Qaida militants within Pakistan's main Sunni extremist organizations - Sipah-e-Sahaba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi - for Tuesday's attack.
"We know that pro-Taliban and al-Qaida people were involved in previous terrorist attacks against our people," he told AP. "We are certain that the same people did it today."
Afghan and US officials have also long suspected the ousted Taliban regime of using Quetta as a base for launching attacks inside Afghanistan. US, Afghan and Pakistani authorities believe bin Laden is likely hiding out along the mountainous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan and have recently stepped up efforts to find him.
Since the September 11 attacks, Musharraf has been a staunch ally of the US. He has also become a prime target of extremist groups, narrowly escaping assassination twice in December.
Musharraf's decision to crack down on al-Qaida and turn his back on his former Taliban allies has polarized this Islamic nation of 150 million. Hassan said the president's insistence on toeing the US line is undermining his rule in the eyes of even more moderate Pakistanis.
"American forces have occupied Iraq against the wishes of the Iraqi people, and in Pakistan, the leaders have adopted pro-US policies that are resented," he said. "The government is losing credibility day-by-day."
(Agencies via Xinhua)
