Suicide bombers kill 48 in Red Mosque backlash

Suicide bombers killed at least 48 people in three separate attacks in Pakistan yesterday, as the militant backlash against the army's storming of the Red Mosque intensified.

In one attack about 30 people were killed when a bomber targeted a convoy of Chinese workers being escorted by police in the southern town of Hub. In the second, a bomber detonated a device in his car at a police academy in the north-western city of Hangu, killing seven. The third bomb went off during evening prayers at a mosque in an army cantonment in Kohat, south of Peshawar, killing at least 11.

"I saw flames all around me after a big bang. It appeared as if cars were flying in the air," Mohammad Raheem, 17, a labourer who was injured in the Hub blast, told Reuters from hospital in the nearby city of Karachi. "There were cries and screams all around. After that I don't know what happened. I just fainted."

Officials said all of the Chinese workers, who were employed in the mining industry, escaped unhurt but seven police and 23 bystanders were killed. At least 28 others were injured. It was the first of the recent attacks to be aimed at a target in the country's south.

In Hangu, it appears that the car bomber timed his attack to coincide with the arrival of a group of young recruits. "The attacker tried to crash through the gate. He blew himself up as security guards at the gate tried to stop him," said Fakhr-e-Alam, the city's senior administration official.

The attacks are the latest since the government stormed the Red Mosque, or Lal Masjid, in Islamabad earlier this month.

The operation to clear the mosque, which had taken a confrontational stance against the government of General Pervez Musharraf, left at least 100 dead. Most of the victims were students who had barricaded themselves inside the complex along with one of the clerics, Abdul Rashid Ghazi.

After the operation to storm the mosque, in which Mr Ghazi was among those killed, Islamic militants promised retaliation and General Musharraf vowed to fight extremism. On Wednesday, General Musharraf was forced to repeat his claim that he had no intention of declaring a state of emergency to counter the growing insecurity and said elections due to be held later this year would go ahead.

While General Musharraf may initially have received a boost from his decision to take on the militants at Lal Masjid, the escalating violence and sense of insecurity will not help his political fortunes.

The Pakistani leader faces more difficulties today, when the Supreme Court is expected to give its decision on an appeal by Pakistan's ousted chief justice, Iftikhar Choudhry, who was sacked by General Musharraf for alleged corruption. Since that decision in March, the judge has become the focus of anti-Musharraf demonstrations, with thousands attending Mr Choudhry's speeches to legal groups. If, as expected, the court finds for Mr Choudhry, the government will be under pressure to reinstate him.

General Musharraf is also struggling to resurrect a ceasefire agreement with Taliban fighters in North Waziristan who have ended a 10-month-old peace pact. Het has sent tribal elders to meet Taliban leaders in an attempt to persuade them to abide by the ceasefire.