14 Shiites killed in Pakistan bus explosion
A Pakistani soldier stands guard during the religious procession in Karachi on Sunday. A blast hit a Shiite Muslim religious procession killing as many as 17 and wounding dozens in central Pakistan.
Fourteen Shiite Muslims were killed when their minibus hit a landmark in Pakistan's northwest today, an attack Pakistani officials described as a "sectarian incident," reported the Associated Press.
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The majority of Pakistan's Muslims are Sunni, but violence between the two Islamic sects has a long history in the region.
Today's attack killed eight members in a single family, police told AP. Victims included three women and several children.
Local official Zakir Hussain told Iran's Press TV that among the dead were two 11-year-old boys and a three-year-old girl.
The group was going from the mostly Shiite village of Spai to the Orakzai tribal region when their bus hit the an anti-tank land mine, a weapon used by Sunni militants there in the past, local police official Naeem Khan told AP.
Hussain said the attack was caused by a "remote-controlled bomb planted on the road," according to Press TV.
Khan described the attack as a "terrorist act," one that "apparently seems to be a sectarian incident," reported AP.
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