Pakistan hospital rocked by bomb blast

PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN - Aug 19 2008 10:25

A bomb blast ripped through a hospital on Tuesday in a north-western Pakistani town that has been plagued by sectarian violence, killing at least 20 people, police said.

The explosion happened as Shi'ite Muslims gathered to protest over the death of a man in a suspected sectarian attack in the troubled town of Dera Ismail Khan, provincial police spokesperson Riaz Ahmed said.

"A Shi'ite salesman was fatally wounded in an attack at a grocery store and was brought to the city's district hospital, when there was a blast in the emergency ward," Ahmed said.

"The bodies are being evacuated, the dead included civilians and policemen. It is not clear if the blast was a suicide attack," he said.

He did not have an immediate death toll but senior local administration official Mohsin Shah said 20 people were killed.

Another police official speaking on condition of anonymity said the incident could be linked to sectarian violence. -- AFP

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