At least 18 people were killed and dozens wounded by a suspected suicide bombing at a Muslim shrine in the Pakistani capital Islamabad today, where thousands had gathered to pay homage to city's patron saint.
The blast occurred at the Bari Imam shrine, which is close to Pakistan's main government buildings and the diplomatic enclave, where many embassies and diplomatic residences are located.
"Our men have counted 18 bodies; many people have been wounded," said Haroon Shehzad, an official of Edhi Welfare Foundation, a private emergency service. "Our initial information suggests it was a suicide attack," Islamabad police chief Talat Mehmood Tariq told reporters.
Thousands of devotees from the majority Sunni Muslim and minority Shi'ite Muslim sects were attending a festival at the time of the explosion. "Many (Shi'ite) mourners have been martyred and many wounded," Qamar Haider Zaidi, a Shi'ite Muslim preacher, told reporters as bloody, limbless bodies were recovered from the scene.
"Shi'ites and Sunnis were both there." Another Shi'ite cleric, Syed Guftar Hussain Sadiqi, said the blast appeared to be the work of banned Sunni militant groups or "foreign elements".
The casualties included women and children. Some blood-stained bodies were covered with religious banners and Shi'ites beat their chests in grief.
It was the latest incident of religious violence to rock Pakistan, which has been a key ally in the US-led war on terror since the September 11 attacks in 2001.