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Summary
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan on Wednesday claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed 43 people at a Ashura mourning procession in Karachi, one of the group's most-wanted commanders told a foreign news agency.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 day of Ashura into a bloodbath. It was the deadliest attack in Karachi in more than two years.Pakistan has been pressing a major offensive against Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in its South Waziristan stronghold on the Afghan border since October. We carried out the suicide bombing in Karachi, Asmatullah Shaheen, a top militant commander based in South Waziristan, told by telephone from an undisclosed location.Shaheen, whose name is on a government list of 19 most-wanted militants, said he (the bomber) was our man; his name was Hasnain Muawia. We will carry out more such attacks and also target government installations, Shaheen said.Pakistan posted a 10-million-rupee (118,690 dollar) bounty for Shaheen's capture dead or alive when it published a list last month of its most-wanted TTP warlords, which offered combined rewards of five million dollars. Led by Hakimullah Mehsud since a US drone attack killed founder Baitullah Mehsud in August, TTP has claimed and been blamed for some of the worst attacks in Pakistan. Monday's attack sparked riots as mourners went on the rampage, throwing stones at ambulances, torching cars and buildings and reducing shops to charred wreckage. Firefighters continued to drench the flames Wednesday.
