ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – A suicide bomber marked the first anniversary of the military operation against Islamabad's radical Red Mosque by targeting police guarding the site, killing at least 15 people.
The attack Sunday raised fresh concerns about the stability of nuclear-armed Pakistan and whether it can cope with the scale of the extremist challenge now confronting it.
The unofficial death toll stood at 19 late in the day, mostly policemen. More than 40 were injured. A bomber wearing a suicide vest walked up to a group of police officers stationed about 300 yards from the Red Mosque just before 8 p.m. local time, officials said.
Police helmets, shields and protective vests were thrown around the site of the blast, at a crossroads, amid pools of blood. The walls of nearby buildings were marked, apparently by the ball bearings contained in the suicide jacket.
The attack came after a highly charged day, which saw thousands of fervent Muslims gather at the Red Mosque, in central Islamabad, for a "conference" to commemorate the storming of the mosque last July, when the army moved against extremists who had taken control of the mosque. According to the authorities, about 100 died in that military operation.
The bombing also followed the launch of an offensive last week by the armed forces against Islamist warlords based near Peshawar, the provincial capital in the northwest.
A huge police cordon had been thrown around the Red Mosque conference. The police targeted by the bomber were positioned in the outermost ring of security and hit minutes after the conference ended.
Witnesses said that the blast shook nearby buildings. Reports said that the bomber, described by authorities as a man in his 30s, used about 11 pounds of explosive material and an equal weight of ball bearings.
Mohammad Iqbal, a motorcyclist who came to the scene afterward, said: "They are not humans who do this. Islam does not allow it."
The raid on the Red Mosque a year ago unleashed a vicious campaign of suicide bombings across Pakistan, aimed mostly at the police and army, but peace talks opened by the new Pakistani government with Taliban militants, who were blamed for the attacks, had quieted things down.
However, last month, a deadly explosion at the Danish Embassy in Islamabad had shown, experts believe, that an intractable element among the militants had decided to carry on the carnage.
Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the embassy bombing, suggesting that while Pakistan's homegrown Taliban movement may be willing to negotiate, hard-core international jihadists are not.
In Pakistan, it is widely believed that many more than 100 died in the Red Mosque operation, mostly girls studying at the adjacent seminary, and that a thousand or more bodies were buried in secret graves.
Belief in that conspiracy has made the Red Mosque one of the burning political issues in Pakistan, and it's one reason the ruling party was punished in February's elections.
Sunday's bombing brought new questions about why the government allowed the incendiary gathering at the Red Mosque that preceded it.
Members of banned extremist groups were said to be among the crowd.
