At least 10 people have been killed and dozens injured in a suicide bombing in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, Pakistan's Aaj TV has said.
A suicide bomber blew himself up on Sunday in the crowd of Shia Muslims near a local mosque, apparently when police tried to search him at a checkpoint outside. IANS said, citing a local religious leader, that 11 people had died and 65 received various injuries.
"When the volunteers spotted the suicide bomber and challenged him, he blew himself up," the agency quoted Maulvi Kifayat, as saying.
Security measures have been stepped up in Pakistan, which has a long history of violence between the Sunni majority and the Shiite minority, as Shiites have begun a traditional ten-day mourning in remembrance of Muhammad's grandson Imam Hussein, who was killed in the late seventh century.
In a separate incident, at least 19 people were wounded in a car explosion in Pakistan's commercial center Karachi on Saturday. The explosion occurred near a procession of minority Shiite Muslims for the holy month of Muharram.
None of the extremist groups have claimed responsibility for the blasts. However, police and analysts believe that a banned anti-Shiite group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, might have been behind the attacks.
NEW DELHI, December 28 (RIA Novosti)
