Suicide Bomber in Pakistan Kills 14

The blast demolished a bus filled with French workers and sent other vehicles, glass and body parts flying, creating a gruesome scene in front of the Sheraton and Pearl Continental hotels. An almost-empty bus waiting for the New Zealand and Pakistani cricket teams was also damaged in the blast, but no players were harmed.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf condemned the attack, which took place in a posh part of a city known to have a strong population of Islamic extremists, and convened an emergency meeting to begin an investigation.

“We feel this act of international terrorism has to be met with full force. My government has the complete resolve of meeting this threat,” Musharraf said. “I would appeal to the international community to understand our domestic environment resulting from our cooperation against international terrorism.”

French President Jacques Chirac called the bombing “a murderous, cowardly, odious terrorist attack.” Chirac has sent his newly appointed defense minister to Pakistan to meet with officials in Karachi.

The French engineers had been sent to Pakistan to help build a submarine recently bought from France.

There was no immediate evidence as to who was behind the bombing, but many suspect militant Islamic groups in Pakistan sympathetic to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network. Because foreigners were targeted in the attack, many believe it was meant to embarrass Musharraf during his much-touted campaign to crack down on militant groups.

Musharraf has been under pressure for cooperating with the United States in the war against terrorism in Afghanistan, but won a controversial referendum last week reaffirming his support in the country. Musharraf originally came to power in a coup in 1999.

Government officials also suggested long-time enemy India may have played a role in the attack.

Information Minister Nisar Memon read a statement to the press that said the authorities ”did not rule out the possibility of a foreign hand from across the eastern borders from a country perpetually inimical to Pakistan.”

Indian foreign ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao dismissed the allegation.

“We treat it with the disdain it fully deserves. It is totally and completely baseless,” she told reporters in New Delhi.

Despite Musharraf’s statements against terrorism, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said his efforts have been largely insufficient. “Unless a genuine commitment is shown to tackling militancy rather than making merely cosmetic gestures under international pressure and rounding up low-level activists…violence will continue to grow,” the group said in a statement.

With a population of 14 million, Karachi is Pakistan’s largest city and serves as the country’s industrial capital. It has been the site of previous terrorist activity in recent months, including the kidnapping of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in January. Pearl was eventually killed, and four men accused of orchestrating his murder are currently on trial before a Pakistani court in Hyderabad, a town some 75 miles away.