Taliban claim Pakistan Shia parade attack

Pakistan's feared Taliban network claimed responsibility Wednesday for a suicide bombing that killed 43 people at a Shia parade in Karachi and threatened further attacks.
The claim was made by one of Pakistan's most wanted commanders in the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) movement, which for two months has been targeted by a military offensive near the Afghan border.
Monday's attack in Pakistan's biggest city reduced events marking the Shias' holiest day, Ashura, to carnage and sparked riots, underlining the security challenge faced by the nuclear-armed Muslim country.
It was the deadliest militant attack in Karachi in two years and one of the deadliest sectarian-linked attacks in conservative Pakistan.
"We carried out the suicide bombing in Karachi," Asmatullah Shaheen, a top militant commander based in South Waziristan, told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.
"We did it to protect the honour of the companions of the holy prophet," he said, referring to a centuries-old disagreement between Sunni Muslims, who dominate the Taliban, and Shia Muslims over the succession to the Prophet Mohammed.
"We will carry out more such attacks and also target government installations," Shaheen added.