03 October 2004	Sunday	17 Shaban 1425

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SIALKOT, Oct 2: More police contingents were deployed in the city as violent protests against Friday's bomb blast continued on Saturday with mourners damaging public and private property worth millions. The death toll rose to 31 as six of the wounded died.

Shops and financial institutions were forced to remain closed by the protesters who resorted to aerial firing and burnt tyres at various places.

After the mass funeral, mourners carrying brickbats, sticks and stones attacked offices of the district nazim and set its record section on fire. They hurled stones at the police guarding the offices. Most of the record was reduced to ashes, officials said.

The protesters smashed windowpanes as well as windscreens of official and private vehicles parked on the premises of the nazim's office. They also torched a number of motorcycles.

Another mob surrounded the police lines and Civil Lines police station and set several official motorcycles ablaze. Then it marched towards the district jail but could not get close to it because of a heavy contingent of police and paramilitary troops posted there.

In the nearby Daska town, people burnt old tyres on the main Daska-Sialkot highway, blocking it for about five hours.

DEATH TOLL: Six more victims of the bomb explosion, including two minors, succumbed to injuries on Saturday morning, bringing the death toll to 31, said Punjab Law Minister Raja Muhammad Basharat.

Addressing a press conference at the DPO's office, the minister said that 28 of the dead had been identified. Rest of the bodies, including that of the suspected suicide bomber, were mutilated beyond recognition.

Answering a question, he said two teams were investigating the incident. "They (teams) are presently trying to ascertain whether it was a sectarian strike or act terrorism. It is too early to say that it is the work of Al Qaeda."

The minister said there was no need of any judicial inquiry. "There is an urgent need of investigation instead of a judicial inquiry. Police will soon find a clue to the culprits," he expressed the hope.

He said the chief minister had announced a reward of Rs10 million for those providing any clue to the culprits.

FUNERAL: A mass funeral was held at the railway station compound amid tight security. Thousands of mourners from all schools of thought attended the prayers under a light rain.

DCO Syed Tahir Raza Naqvi said other funerals were held in adjoining areas of the city.

The main funeral procession was brought to the railway station compound from the Markazi Imam Bargah Mistari Abdullah adjacent to the Zainabia mosque, the target of the bomb blast. The procession passed through main roads. On way to the railway station compound, mourners placed bodies at the Allama Iqbal Chowk where they chanted anti-terrorism and anti-government slogans. A huge contingent of the police, elite force and paramilitary forces escorted the procession. The dead were buried in various graveyards in Sialkot and its outskirts.

It was a total shutdown in the city on Saturday. Offices remained closed as the district government observed a day of mourning. Local lawyers and those in nearby towns of Daska and Pasrur boycotted courts. Roads wore a deserted look as police and paramilitary forces continued patrolling the city.

The Rangpura police have not yet registered a case.