Four reported dead in suicide bombing at Shiite mosque in eastern Pakistan

Sunday, October 10th 2004, 11:39 am

By: News On 6

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) _ A suicide attacker detonated a bomb Sunday at a Shiite mosque in the eastern city of Lahore, leaving at least four people dead and injuring others, according to a witness and officials.

The witness said a man carrying a briefcase tried to enter the Husainia Hall mosque in the ancient walled part of the city during evening prayers but was blocked by security guards. He then detonated a bomb in the briefcase.

``Our two security guards were martyred and the suicide bomber was killed,'' said witness Sajjad Bhutta.

The state news agency quoted Punjab province Home Secretary Hassan Waseem as saying that four people were killed and others injured.

Private Geo television network said six injured were taken to a hospital.

The bomb went off at the mosque late in the afternoon after prayers, said Raja Basharat Illahi, the province's law minister. Dozens of people were inside the mosque when the blast went off, police said.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed immediately condemned the bombing.

The attack was the third this month against a religious target in Punjab, stoking fears of spiraling sectarian violence between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

On Oct. 1, a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque killed 31 people in Sialkot city, then six days later, a car bombing at a gathering of Sunni Muslim radicals in Multan city killed 40 people.

No group claimed responsibility for those attacks, which prompted authorities to ban religious gatherings across the country _ except for Friday prayers at mosques.

Adding to the tensions, on Saturday two prominent Sunni clerics were gunned down in the volatile southern city of Karachi, triggering riots by their followers.

Most Sunnis and minority Shiites live peacefully together in this Islamic country, but militants from both sects stage attacks.