20 killed in Pakistan mosque attacks

At least 20 people were killed in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore today as gunmen armed with grenades attacked two mosques of a minority sect during prayers.

Some worshippers were believed to have been held hostage while gunmen battled with police after seizing control of one mosque, officials and witnesses said.

The attacks by suspected Islamist militants targeted the Ahmadi sect, which has experienced years of state-sanctioned discrimination and occasional attacks by radical Sunnis. It has never before been hit on such a large scale or coordinated fashion.

One of the attackers climbed on top of the minaret of one of the mosques, firing an assault rifle and throwing hand grenades, TV footage showed, while police engaged the attackers in a fierce gunfight.

Police officer Imtiaz Ahmad said several attackers were inside and were thought to be holding hostages.

Outside the other mosque several miles away, a witness complained of police inaction when the attackers struck.

“I asked the policeman to open fire. He told me he could not because he only had four bullets in his gun,” said Ghalib Hussain.

Emergency worker Dr Rizan Nasir said 20 people had been killed in one mosque, although figures were not immediately available for the other.

Pakistan has seen scores of attacks by groups of Islamist militants against government, western and security force targets over the past three years, with several taking place in Lahore in particular.

Many Islamist militants believe it is permissible or honourable to kill non-Muslims, or even those Muslims who do not share their views.

The Ahmadis call themselves Muslims but believe their founder declared himself a prophet centuries after Muhammad, who other Muslims believe was the final prophet.

An Ahmadi spokesman said the sect abhors violence and was deeply concerned about the attacks.

Waseem Sayed, who is based in the US, said: “We are a peaceful people and monitoring the situation and hoping and praying that the authorities are able to take all necessary action to bring the situation to normalcy with the least number of casualties.”