Police say two people have been killed in a suicide car bomb attack on a police station in northwest Pakistan.
Police
officer Sana Ullah said officers opened fire on the vehicle, which blew
up at the gate of the station in the Lakki Marat district. The driver
was killed in the blast.
He says the other two dead were shopkeepers. Several policemen and bystanders were injured.
Islamist
militants have carried out hundreds of attacks against Pakistani
security force, government and western targets since 2007. At least
35,000 people have been killed.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
PARACHINAR,
Pakistan (AP) — A local government official says gunmen have killed
seven Shiite Muslims in an attack on a minibus in northwestern Pakistan.
Jameel-ur-Rehman
says it was apparently a sectarian attack. The gunmen ambushed the bus
in an area of the Kurram tribal region. The driver and six passengers
were all Shiites.
No one claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack.
Shiite
Muslims are a minority in overwhelmingly Muslim Pakistan. While most
Sunnis and Shiites live together peacefully, extremists from both sides
have often targeted each other's leaders and activists.
The Sunni-Shiite schism over the true heir to Islam's Prophet Muhammad dates back to the seventh century. AP
