Sectarian attacks kill 11 in N. Pakistan

At least 11 people were killed, six of them burnt alive, in remote northern Pakistan yesterday in violence that erupted after an attack on a minority Shi'ite Muslim leader, official and hospital sources said.

The authorities imposed a curfew in Gilgit, the main town in the mountainous region known as Northern Areas, and called out the army to quell the violence after enraged Shi'ites went on the rampage following the attack on Ziauddin Moosavi.

Moosavi was travelling in his car to a mosque in the centre of Gilgit, some 240 km north of the capital Islamabad, when unidentified gunmen opened fire at him, critically injuring Moosavi and his three guards. Two of the guards later died. One of the attackers was killed when Moosavi's guards returned fire, Northern Areas Home Secretary Jamil Ahmed said. "He is not from Gilgit. We are trying to establish his identity," he told Reuters.

Ahmed said eight people were killed in the violence that followed the attack on Moosavi.

An angry mob set fire to the house of a forest department official, burning alive the official and five others. A local health department official was also attacked and killed.

Witnesses said angry mobs also set government buildings and cars on fire. "People are very terrified," a resident told Reuters by telephone. No one claimed responsibility for the attack on Moosavi but police suspected it was a sectarian incident.

Attacks by militants of Pakistan's majority Sunni and minority Shi'ite Muslim communities have killed hundreds of people over the years.

Yesterday's violence was the worst in Gilgit since June, when one man was killed in clashes between security forces and Shi'ites protesting against the school curriculum.

Shi'ites account for 15 per cent of Pakistan's 150 million population.