Taliban claims responsibility for Ashura holy day bomb attack

AFP - Pakistan's main Taliban faction on Wednesday claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed 43 people at a Shiite parade in Karachi, one of the group's most-wanted commanders told AFP.
   
A bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body as crowds marched down Mohammad Ali Jinnah Road in the heart of Pakistan's largest city on Monday, turning the Shiites' holiest day of Ashura into a bloodbath.
   
"We carried out the suicide bombing in Karachi," Asmatullah Shaheen, a top militant commander based in the South Waziristan tribal district, told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.
   
Shaheen, whose name is on a government list of 20 most-wanted militants, said "he (the bomber) was our man; his name was Hasnain Muawia and we did it to protect the honour of the companions of the holy prophet."
   
"We will carry out more such attacks and also target government installations," Shaheen said.