Six burnt alive as protesters torch KFC outlet in Pakistan

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) - Police recovered six bodies from a KFC restaurant burned by a mob protesting the suicide bombing of mosque in southern Pakistan, a senior police official said.

The five people, including two attackers, were killed Monday when three suicide attackers clashed with police and exploded a bomb at the mosque in Karachi, setting off rioting during which angry Shiite Muslims set fire to the restaurant, burning vehicles and shops, three branches of banks and three gas stations.

On Tuesday, senior Police official Manzoor Mughal said they had found six employees' bodies at the KFC, four of them were burned alive, while two died after hiding at a cold storage at the restaurant.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/5/31/latest/20050531130256&sec=Latest

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A bomb kills worshippers at a Shiite Muslim shrine, and some mourners shout "Down with America!" Days later, a suicide bomber strikes a Shiite mosque and an angry crowd torches a nearby KFC restaurant.

Sectarian violence is nothing new in Pakistan, where a small minority of Sunni and Shiite militants keep up a torrid pace of atrocities each year. Now, however, anger over the bloodshed is being vented at a seemingly unrelated target -- the United States.

Hatred of America is running high in the wake of allegations in Newsweek magazine -- since retracted -- that U.S. interrogators desecrated Islam's holy book, the Quran, at Guantanamo Bay prison, said Allama Hassan Turabi, a senior Shiite leader in the southern city of Karachi.

Anger over America's treatment of Muslims bubbled over following an attack on a mosque in Karachi on Monday, when three assailants clashed with police before setting off a bomb that killed two attackers, two policemen, one worshipper and wounded 26.

A crowd gathered outside the mosque to protest the bloodletting, setting fire to cars, shops and gas stations and clashing with police. The mob soon turned its rage on a nearby KFC restaurant, knocking out windows and setting it ablaze. Four workers were found burned to death and two others died after hiding in a freezer.

"People went mad, they had no idea what they were doing," said Turabi. "People hate America. For many people in Pakistan, KFC is a symbol of America."

Shiites in particular are feeling targeted, and their frustration is exploding into rage, said Samina Ahmed, an analyst with the International Crisis Group.

"There are perceptions that the United States is anti-Islam," she said. "But what it really is is frustration, a sense of insecurity. They don't know what to do, so anger can turn to attacks on U.S. symbols."

A student who said he was nearby when the KFC was targeted summed up the mood on the street.

"We hate America because Americans are responsible for the miseries of all Muslims in the world," said Nisar Haider, a spokesman for the Immamia Student Organization.

The Karachi mosque bombing came just three days after a blast ripped through a crowded Muslim shrine where hundreds of worshippers were enjoying a popular annual festival in Islamabad. About 20 worshippers were killed and dozens wounded.

Officials were clearly rattled by the spike in violence.

"These incidents are happening one after the other," said Rauf Siddiqi, home minister of Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital. "We are trying to find a link between them. This is a criminal and merciless attack."

Most Pakistani Sunnis and Shiites live together peacefully, and Muslim leaders have been quick to condemn the killings.

And not all rallies turn violent, of course.

A large but peaceful gathering Friday in Islamabad called for punishing those involved in mishandling the Quran. The "sacrilege of the U.S. extremists" was denounced, but speakers also repeatedly condemned the Islamabad shrine attack and called for unity among Muslims.

"Everybody condemns the bombings," said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, a lawmaker and leader of the six-party religious alliance Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, or United Action Forum. "Sunnis and Shiites come together to condemn them."

He stressed that protests are not only directed at the United States, and said the elimination of Muslim-on-Muslim extremism is a major concern cited at rallies.

"There have been demonstrations in Pakistan against such bombings," he said. "There have been strikes and entire cities have closed down in protest against them."

So, let's see here. A Sunni numbnut splodeydopes himself at a Shiite shrine, and the response of the crowd is to.....attack a chicken restaurant! Right, that'll show 'em! The brain dead stupidity of these people defies belief.

who do you mean when you say "these people"?

I think he means right-wing religious fundamentalists like Bush, Bin Laden,Scalia and Mullah Omar.

People gather in front of the burnt-down KFC fast-food outlet in Karachi May 31, 2005. Six employees of American fast-food franchise KFC were burned to death in Karachi during a riot that followed a suicide attack on a mosque in the southern Pakistani city, rescue workers said on May 31 2005. (Zahid Hussein/Reuters)
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Six employees of an American fast food restaurant have been burnt alive after an angry mob, protesting against the bombing of a Shia mosque in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi on Monday, set fire to the place, police say.

Senior police official Manzoor Mughal said on Tuesday that they had recovered bodies of six employees at a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant in the southern city of Karachi. Four of them had been burned alive, while two died after hiding in a cold storage at the restaurant, he said.

"Their bodies were found during the search of KFC," city police chief Tariq Jamil said.

The arson came in response to an attack by three men, who stormed the minority Shia Madinat-ul-Ilm mosque in the middle-class Gulshan neighbourhood of the city during evening prayers late on Monday.

One of the assailants died in the ensuing gun battle with police, while the other was said to have blown himself up. The third sustained a serious head injury in a fall, Jamil said.

Hospital officials said the man was unconscious, but in a stable condition.

Critical cases

Two worshippers and one policeman also died in the attack, while 21 people, four of them in a critical condition, were admitted to hospital.

Angry protesters went on the rampage after the attack, setting fire to two petrol stations and a number of vehicles in addition to the restaurant.

The attack on the mosque came just three days after 19 people, most of them Shia, died in a bomb blast at a Muslim shrine near the capital Islamabad.

Thousands of Shia and majority Sunni Muslims have been killed in sectarian bloodshed in Pakistan in recent years with attacks, including bomb blasts, bombings and targeted killings. Last year, 160 people were killed in sectarian violence.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4C20DC80-98BC-4106-A3DA-2B3ED6FC8262.htm