Eleven killed in anti-Shiite attacks in Pakistan

At least eleven people including nine Shiite pilgrims were killed Thursday in a bomb blast in southwest Pakistan, a police source said. The incident occurred in Hazarganji, near Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, which has huge oil and gas reserves and borders Iran and Afghanistan. "A bomb blew up a bus carrying Shiite Iran to Quetta in Pakistan. Eight people died, including nine Shia pilgrims and two policemen who were escorting her," he told AFP Hamid Shakeel, a police officer. "The initial investigation suggests that the bomb was activated from a distance. The bomb was placed in a car and exploded in the bus fare," he said. More than 20 people were also wounded in the attack. Another police official, Sikandar Tareen, confirmed the deaths. The Balochistan became the focus of violence between the Sunni majority and Shiite minority, who number about one-fifth of the 167 million inhabitants. On Thursday, eight other people were killed in an attack that occurred in Bara, the main town in the troubled tribal region Khiber, a stronghold of Taliban militants linked to al-Qaeda, the nearby Afghan border.