12 October 2004	Tuesday	26 Shaban 1425

LAHORE, Oct 11: The two victims of Sunday's suicide attack on a Shiite mosque were laid to rest here on Monday amid tension and fear of violence.

Police cordoned off the Mochi Gate Bagh Ground -- the venue for the funeral prayers for the victims -- since early morning and all routes leading to it were barricaded and blocked with barbed wires. All markets nearby remained closed.

The funeral prayers were attended by well over 4,000 people who passed through the route to the Shia Firdausia Graveyard on Ferozepur Road in Kahna beating their chests and shouting slogans.

Four people, including a 13-year-old boy, were killed and 10 others sustained wounds on Sunday when a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the entrance of the Jamia Masjid Kashmiriaan inside Bhatti Gate on his failure to approach the worshippers in the mosque.

"The bomber has not yet been identified," Lahore Operations police chief Aftab Cheema told Dawn and added the age of the attacker was between 25 and 30 years. "Nor has any evidence found which could help establish his identity."

He, however, believed the security steps taken in view of the recent terror wave helped catch the bomber at the mosque entrance. It would have been a grave catastrophe had he managed to get close to the worshippers, he added.

The other three victims were identified as Jafar Husain and Dilbar Khan, guards of the mosque and a passing-by boy, Salman Arshad. Dilbar's body was sent to his native town in Kohat as desired by his family, Lahore investigation police chief Chaudhry Shafqaat said.

The other two bodies were brought to the venue from the mosque inside Bhatti by a large number of people, most of them bare-footed with their chests beating. Agha Ali Mousvi of the Masjid Kashmiriaan offered the funeral prayers, and told the gathering that some enemies of the country had tried to pit Shiite against Sunnis. "But we know well that there is nothing like that. Anybody involved in such acts is just a terrorist, and has nothing to do with both the sects." Mr Mousvi appealed to the people at large that they should understand the designs of the terrorists and should foil them, instead of following their lines.

"Let me make one thing clear that the police did nothing in intercepting the suicide bomber and arresting one or two of his accomplices from the scene. Those who did this brave act were our men, he added.

However, the operations police chief said that only one man was caught by the residents and two police guards on the scene of crime who was freed after learning that he was a resident of the very locality. .

After the funeral prayers, the participants put the bodies on to two trucks and boarded buses and vans. They diverted to Karbala Gamey Shah Imambargah on the Lower Mall against the undertaking they had given to the police and the administration.

The bodies were brought to the Imambargah and taken further towards the graveyard. The police force intercepted them near the Nasser Bagh and refused them to march up to the Civil Secretariat.

The situation got tense for a while. The police, however, dealt with the situation tactfully and divided the participants into groups. In the meantime, the police whisked away with the two trucks carrying the bodies, and drove them straight to the graveyard.

The participants continued their search for the bodies for sometime but, later, dispersed peacefully on request from their leadership. Meanwhile, there was no breakthrough as far as the investigation of the suicide bombing was concerned.

"We have detained several people in view of the terror wave. We are questioning them," the investigation police chief said, and added it would also help reduce the chances of more incidents.

Clarifying the modus operandi of the crime, he said the bomber had not carried a briefcase. Instead, he added, the terrorist wore a jacket with explosives. Of the make and weight of the explosives, the police chief said: "We are waiting for laboratory results." Further investigation is under way.

CRACKDOWN: Police in the city and elsewhere in the province are reported to have planned more crackdowns on the members of the banned religious outfits. Meetings to this effect were underway till the filing of this report late night.

COMPENSATION: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi on Monday announced Rs1 million each as compensation to the families of the guards killed in the tragic incident. The CM also directed the Punjab government to arrange jobs for a family member of each guards. He said that the provincial government would request the federal government to award Tamgha-i-Shujaat to the guards.