PAKISTAN: Suspended Pakistani Chief Justice arrives at site of suicide bomb that killed 13 people

The attack took place shortly before Pakistan's suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry arrived. A suicide bomber killed 13 people on Tuesday (July 13) outside a court in the Pakistani capital Islamabad where the country's suspended chief justice was due to speak, police and officials said. Suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who has become a symbol of resistance to President Pervez Musharraf's 8-year rule, had not arrived to speak to lawyers at the time of the suicide attack. The blast went off about 30 metres (yards) from a stage, set up in a car park in a market area outside the court, and close to a stall put up by the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, witnesses said. The city's police chief Iftikhar Ahmed said 13 people were killed. About 40 were wounded, including several police. Chaudhry, was due to arrive at the venue to speak with his lawyers when the blast detonated. He made a brief appearance at the venue later and offered prayers for the victims. "The blast occurred right in the middle of the Reception Centre set up by the PPP (Pakistan People's Party). I don't believe any of the women sitting in the centre could have survived," said a lawyer who had been present at the time of the blast. There has been a wave of suicide attacks this month in northwest Pakistan following an army operation to besiege and destroy an Islamist militant stronghold at an Islamabad mosque. But the attack at a gathering of support for Chaudhry spawned more conspiracy theories with elections due by the end of the year. Chaudhry's suspension on March 9 sparked protests by lawyers defending the independence of the judiciary and has snowballed into the most serious challenge to Musharraf's rule since he seized power in a 1999 coup. The Supreme Court is expected to deliver a ruling on the merits of the government case against Chaudhry in coming days.

ITN Source | July 18, 2007

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