Seven killed in Pakistan blast

A BOMB has exploded near a Shi'ite religious procession in northwest Pakistan killing seven people, including four children, officials say.

At least 30 people, including five children, were also wounded when the bomb went off on the route of a minority Shi'ite community procession in the Dera Ismail Khan district, local hospital chief Aziz Baluch said.

The blast took place on Saturday as Shi'ite Muslims were gathering for a procession marking the anniversary of the death of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussain in 680, and security was tight across the country to prevent attacks.

"The bomb was planted in a dustbin, the blast was powerful and heard several kilometres away," police official Siddiq Khan said.

Pakistan on Friday suspended mobile phone services in major cities to prevent terror attacks against Shi'ite Muslim commemorations, officials said. Mobile phones are often used to trigger bomb blasts.

Mobile and wireless phone services were temporarily blocked in the commercial capital Karachi, the southwestern city of Quetta and several cities and towns in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and central Punjab province as well as in parts of the capital Islamabad.

It is the second time Pakistan has shut down mobile networks during the holy month of Muharram, which culminates with Ashura, the holiest day in the Shi'ite Muslim calendar when the faithful march to mourn the killing of Imam Hussein.

Authorities beefed up security across the country amid intelligence reports of possible attacks on Shi'ite gatherings.

A suicide bomber killed 23 people and wounded 62 others at a Shi'ite procession in Rawalpindi on Thursday, the deadliest bombing in Pakistan for five months.

Ashura falls this year on Sunday and has been a magnet for sectarian attacks with rights groups heavily criticising the government for failing to stop extremist violence.

In December 2009, a suicide bomber killed 43 people in Karachi at a Shi'ite procession to mark Ashura.

Shi'ites account for around 20 per cent of Sunni-dominated Pakistan's 167 million population.

Nationwide sectarian violence between militants from the two communities is estimated to have killed more than 4000 people since the late 1990s.

Pakistan says 35,000 people have been killed as a result of terrorism since the 9/11 attacks and the 2001 US-led invasion of neighbouring Afghanistan.

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