Death toll at 65 in Pakistani Taliban suicide attack

QUETTA, Pakistan - The death toll from a Pakistani Taliban suicide attack on a Shia Muslim procession rose to 65 yesterday as critically wounded people died in hospitals, while a suspected U.S. missile strike killed seven insurgents in a restive tribal area.

About 150 people were wounded and some remained in critical condition after the bombing Friday in the southwestern city of Quetta, police official Mohammed Sultan said.

The attack was the second in a week against Shia for which the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility. A triple suicide bombing Wednesday killed 35 people at a Shia ceremony in the eastern city of Lahore.

"Our war is against American and Pakistani security forces, but Shia are also our target because they, too, are our enemies," Pakistani Taliban commander Qari Hussain Mehsud told The Associated Press.

Mehsud said he was proud that the Pakistani Taliban had been added to the U.S. international terrorism blacklist Wednesday and threatened attacks in coming days in the United States and Europe.

Shia leaders blamed the government for failing to protect them and called a general strike in Quetta, where all schools were closed for a day of mourning. Shia make up about 20 percent of the population in the mostly Sunni Muslim country, although figures are disputed.

Long-standing sectarian violence in Pakistan, particularly against Shia, has been exacerbated by the rise of the Sunni extremist Taliban and al-Qaida movements.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the Taliban, al-Qaida and the outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant group were working together to destabilize Pakistan. "They are infidels," he told reporters in Islamabad.

Meanwhile, two U.S. missiles fired from unmanned aircraft hit a house and a vehicle yesterday evening in a village near Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region, two intelligence officials said. The attack killed seven militants, four of them foreigners, they added.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the timing of the recent militant attacks - during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and as Pakistan recovers from the flooding - made them "even more reprehensible." The UN humanitarian affairs office reported new flooding around the town of Dadu near the Indus River in Sindh province, about 200 miles from the Arabian Sea.

Flood-related health problems continued to increase despite receding waters in many parts of the country. The World Health Organization reported a spike in suspected malaria cases in Sindh and Baluchistan provinces, while diarrhea and acute respiratory diseases such as pneumonia continue to plague the disaster zone.

At least 3.5 million people in Sindh and 6.5 million nationwide have been displaced since the flooding began in late July.