TTP, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claim responsibility for Lahore massacre

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LAHORE -- Banned terrorist outfits Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi have taken responsibility for September 1 suicide attacks on a peaceful religious procession in Lahore.

“This is the revenge of the late leader of the banned Sunni Devbandee organisation Sipah-e-Sahaba, Ali Sher Haidry, who was killed in Sindh last year,” Qari Hussain of the TTP claimed in media.

Three suicide attacks killed 37 and injured at least 300. Observing the eve of the anniversary of Hazrat Ali’s death, the procession was in its last stage in front of Karbala Gamay Shah at Bhati Gate.

Three suicide bombers attacked the procession one after another, Qari said.

“The first blast was of low intensity, but the other two blasts rocked the area,” an eyewitness told Central Asia Online.

The blasts confirmed earlier warnings issued by the Provincial Home Department and Special Branch of Punjab Police, which had notified law enforcement of an expected attack on processions linked to the anniversary of the death of Hazrat Ali, a companion and son-in-law of Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).

In its secret report August 3, the Home Department cautioned that the TTP, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jindullah had sent trained terrorists to Punjab to strike at processions, Central Asia Online learnt.

“The Special Branch directly reported to Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif that terrorists had entered the city and could hit the rival Shia Muslims in Lahore,” an official of the Special Branch said. “The chief minister forwarded the same to concerned departments, but they didn’t act in time.”

“There were some security lapses that allowed terrorists to enter the procession,” District Co-ordination Officer Lahore Sajjad Ahmad Bhutta told news media.

Political and religious leaders have condemned the Lahore blasts as assaults on Islam.

In his statement, Dr. Tahir ul-Qadri, former parliament member and author of a 600-page fatwa against suicide attacks, said terrorists had no religion and that they acted against humanity. “Terrorists are the worst enemy of Islam,” Qadri said.

“The Taliban are not Muslims; otherwise, they would have not killed innocent people … in the holy month of Ramadan,” Sunni Ittehad Council Chairman Sahibzada Fazal Karim said.

Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Syed Munawar Hassan and Secretary-General Liaqat Baloch condemned the blasts as an inhuman act by anti-Islamic elements.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is an anti-Shia militant wing of the banned sectarian organisation Sipah-e-Sahaba, which has been linked to the TTP and Al-Qaeda.

“Abdullah Mansoor, based in Waziristan, heads Lashkar-e-Jhangvi there,” senior journalist Amir Mir reported in the News. Having Waziristan as a base reportedly enabled Abdullah to form ties with the TTP and al-Qaeda.

“The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi uses terror tactics as part of its grand strategy to force the state into accepting its narrow interpretation of Sunni sectarian doctrine as official doctrine,” Mir said. “... It has used (attack) tactics against leaders and employees of rival Shia outfits, bureaucrats, policemen and worshippers.”