Pakistan - sectarian violence

At least 30 dead in Karachi blast

Article published on the 2009-12-28 Latest update 2009-12-28 15:51 TU

Medics attend to a man injured in Saturday's blast in Karachi
(Photo: Reuters)

At least 30 people are reported to have died in a bomb attack on a Shia-Muslim procession in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, according to Provincial Health Minister Saghir Ahmed. He said that at least 60 people have been injured.

"It was a suicide attack. He was walking with the procession and he blew himself up," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told Dunya television.

He asked religious officials to cancel further parades to avoid more attacks.

The procession was part of the Shia Ashura period of mourning, which has also seen sectarian violence in Iraq this year. Karachi has been the scene of sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni-Muslims in the past. Local people say that in recent years the violence has been whipped up by Al-Qaeda fighters who have taken refuge in the city.

Young people taking part in the procession are reported to have attacked official buildings after the blast, while others threw stones or fired guns into the air.

The parade was the largest in Pakistan, which has a Shia minority. Tens of thousands of police and paramilitary have been mobilised for security in cities with sizeable Shia populations.

On Sunday a suicide attack killed five Shia and injured 81 in the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, Muzzafarabad. Five people on an Ashura procession were wounded by a carbomb in Karachi on Saturday.