Suicide bomber kills 5 at large Shiite gathering

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside a large gathering of Shiite Muslims in the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir on Sunday, killing five people and wounding 80, said police.

The attacker blew himself up as police tried to search him at a checkpoint set up outside the event — part of the annual commemorations of the seventh- century death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson — said police officer Tahir Qayum. The five killed included two police, he said.

Most of the 80 injured were Shiites attending the gathering in Muzaffarabad that attracted about 1,000 people, said police officer Sardar Ilyas. Ten of the wounded are in critical condition, he said.

Minority Shiites in Pakistan have often been targeted by radical Sunnis during similar tributes, which take place every year during the Islamic holy month of Muharram. But Ilyas said there was no history of such sectarian clashes in Muzaffarabad.

Authorities called the army in after the attack to restore order, said Kafayat Hussain, a local minister.

Pakistan has been plagued by rising violence since the military launched a large ground offensive in mid-October in the militant stronghold of South Waziristan in the country’s lawless tribal area near the Afghan border.

Three bombs planted in a government official’s house in another tribal area exploded Sunday, killing him along with his wife and five children in an attack police said was retaliation for military operations targeting the Taliban. The military has stepped up airstrikes in Kurram where many militants fled after the South Waziristan offensive.