ISLAMABAD — A suicide bomber targeted a large gathering of Shiite Muslims in the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir on Sunday, killing five people and wounding 80 — a rare sectarian attack in an area police said has little history of militant violence.
Muslim militants have fought for decades to free Kashmir, which is split between India and Pakistan and claimed by both, from New Delhi’s rule. But while Muzaffarabad has served as a base for anti-India insurgents to train and launch attacks, the capital — and most of the Pakistani side — has largely been spared any violence, as militants have focused their firepower across the frontier in the Indian-controlled portion, police officer Sardar Ilyas said.
The bomber detonated his explosives as police tried to search him at a checkpoint outside a commemoration of the seventh century death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson. The gathering attracted about 1,000 people, said police officer Tahir Qayum. The five killed included two police, he said.
The bombing highlights the growing extremism of militants in Pakistani Kashmir. Many of the armed groups in the region were started with support from Islamabad. But some of them have turned against their former patrons and joined forces with the Taliban because the government has reduced its support under U.S. pressure.
The partnership is a dangerous development because it could enable the Taliban to carry out attacks more easily outside northwest tribal areas.
