Pakistan bombing kills 41 during prayer service

KARACHI, Pakistan -- A suicide attacker detonated a bomb during an outdoor Islamic prayer service Tuesday, killing at least 41 people and wounding dozens, police said. An angry mob burned cars and threw stones at police, who fired into the air to disperse the crowds, a witness said.\nThe attacker blew himself up while sitting behind leaders of the Sunni Tehrik religious group, one of several Muslim organizations that organized the service in a downtown Karachi park, said police Chief Niaz Siddiqui.\n"The bomber used about (11 pounds) of explosives obtained locally, and we have collected his body parts," Siddiqui said.\nInterior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said that at least 40 people were killed; officials at three Karachi hospitals later said they received the bodies of 41 people.\nScenes of mass confusion broke out after the explosion in the park, where hundreds of people had gathered for the Sunni Muslim prayer service.\nScores of men wearing long white, blood-spattered robes clambered onto the stage to assist victims, some apparently dead and others wounded and waving their arms for help. A plume of smoke caused by the blast hung over the stage.\nPeople were seen carrying away bloodied blast victims and placing them into ambulances. Four men carried one victim in what looked like a white sheet soaked with blood. Several bodies were seen lying side-by-side on a strip of dusty ground.\nPolice officers fired into the air to disperse crowds that massed at the scene. An angry mob burned cars and pelted security forces with stones after the blast, said witness Mohammed Asif.\n"I saw body parts everywhere," Aisif said. "I saw people collecting body parts and putting them in ambulances."\nTelevision footage inside several Karachi hospitals showed scores of victims being treated in crowded wards. A screaming woman wailed over a person killed in the blast, the body covered by a white sheet on a hospital bed.\nA young boy with burns on his face said he was praying in the park when a massive blast ripped through the crowd. Sindh Provincial Interior Minister Raouf Sadiqui said officials were investigating the attack but that "so far we don't have any confirmed information."\nTwo prominent Sunni Muslim clerics were among the dead, including Akram Qadri, a senior leader of the Sunni Tehrik religious group that organized the prayer service, said Sami Jamali, a doctor at a nearby hospital. Sadiqui said Sheik Hanif Billu also died.\nKarachi has been the scene of several bombings and attacks since Pakistan became a key ally of the United States in its war on terror after Sept. 11, 2001.\nOn March 2, a suicide bomber who was blocked from driving into the U.S. Consulate instead slammed into an American diplomat's car, killing the envoy and three others just days before President Bush visited Pakistan.