2003 Quetta mosque bombing

Map of Quetta

Location| Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan
Date| July 4, 2003 (2003-07-04) (Pakistan Standard Time)

Attack type

| Hand grenades and Shooting
Deaths| 44
Injured| at least 65

On July 4, 2003 44 Hazara Shias were killed and at least 65 others were injured when the mosque was attacked during the Friday prayer in Quetta, Pakistan .[1] On Friday July 4, 2003 when hundreds of worshipers were offering Friday prayer, three armed men enter the Asna Ashari Hazara Imambargah and started shooting, threw hand grenades and one suicide bomber blew himself which left more than 50 dead and tens of others injured.[2] It was second major sectarian attack on Hazara community in Quetta after the massacre of Police cadets. It was the start of the Series of Hazara Killings in Quetta.

## Contents

* 1 Bombing
* 1.1 Perpetrators
* 2 Response
* 3 See also
* 4 References

## Bombing

On Friday July 4, 2003 hundreds of worshipers were practicing Friday prayer in Asna Ashri Hazara Imambargah Kalan (mosque). five men armed with automatic weapons[3] enter the mosque start shooting for ten continuous minutes and tried to throw grenade but it blew in his hand, people disarmed one of them and killed a third one. Two of them ran away from the roof. This incident left more 65 dead and tens of others injured.[4]

### Perpetrators

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), a banned terrorist group, was responsible for the attack on the mosque. After investigations the Intelligence agencies found a video compact disc in which two people are shown who claimed their people attacked on the mosque and they were going to meet them in the paradise.[5]

## Response

* Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan at the time, winded up his 18-day trip to America and Europe. He was in a news conference in Paris when he heard the news.[6][7] On his return to Islamabad, he said[8]

> Whether they are religious extremists or sectarian extremists they are ignorant and wild.

* In response, police in Quetta arrested around 19 culprits who were found involved in the attack.[9]

## See also

* Persecution of Hazara people
* 2004 Quetta Ashura massacre
* 2011 Mastung bus shooting
* September 2010 Quetta bombing
* 2011 Hazara Town shooting

## References

1. ↑ AFP, Quetta (2003-07-05). "The Daily Star Web Edition Vol. 4 Num 39". Thedailystar.net. http://www.thedailystar.net/2003/07/05/d3070501011.htm. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
2. ↑ AFP, Quetta (2003-07-05). "The Daily Star Web Edition Vol. 4 Num 39". Thedailystar.net. http://www.thedailystar.net/2003/07/05/d3070501011.htm. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
3. ↑ "Sectarian Terror In Quetta". https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/sectarian-terror-in-quetta/220701.
4. ↑ McGirk, Tim (2003-07-07). "A Prayer Before Dying" (in en-US). Time. ISSN 0040-781X. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,463128,00.html.
5. ↑ "Daily Times" (in en-US). https://dailytimes.com.pk/.
6. ↑ http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?220701
7. ↑ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,463128,00.html
8. ↑ http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?220701
9. ↑ "19 arrested after attack on mosque". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jul/07/pakistan. Retrieved 7 July 2003.

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