Blast at Pakistani mosque kills 14 people

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) -- A bomb exploded at a Shiite Muslim mosque packed with worshippers in this southern port city today, killing 14 people and wounding more than 200 others in a suspected suicide attack, police and witnesses said.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf condemned the blast as a "heinous act of terrorism" and ordered an investigation.
The attack occurred shortly after 1 p.m. at a mosque inside a government-run religious school, shattering windows and peppering the walls with shrapnel. The wounded lay screaming for help on bloodstained carpets in the mosque while dazed worshippers stumbled out.
The Sindh Madrassah tul Islam school, which houses students ages 4-18, has separate mosques for Sunni and Shiite Muslim faithful. Witnesses said the school had let out early, as usual today. Most of the victims were adults who came to the mosque for prayers.
There was no word on the motive. Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and home to several radical Islamic groups, has been hit by frequent acts of terrorism and sectarian violence.
Dr. Razar Ali said 12 dead were brought to Karachi's Civil Hospital, and 215 wounded, of whom 45 were still hospitalized. Most of the others were either released after treatment or had been transferred elsewhere. Another death and five more injuries were reported at Jinnah Hospital, an official there said on condition of anonymity.
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