Sectarian unrest following blast in Dera Ismail Khan

Sectarian unrest following blast in Dera Ismail Khan 

Friday, 20 Feb, 2009 | 10:21 AM PST | 
 
 
Sectarian violence has become a common occurrence in the troubled district of Dera Ismail Khan. - File/AP Photo 

A bomb blast killed at least six people and wounded 16 during a funeral procession on Friday for a Shia gunned down a day earlier in Dera Ismail Khan, in Northwest Pakistan, police told Reuters.

Gunfire broke out and vehicles were set alight after the bomb attack in Dera Ismail Khan, 270 km southwest of the capital, Islamabad.
 
Sectarian violence between militant Sunni Muslims and Shi'ite groups has plagued the town on the western bank of the Indus river and close to the South Waziristan tribal region, where support runs deep for the Taliban and al Qaeda.
 
‘The blast occured when a funeral procession for a Shi'ite Muslim murdered a day earlier was passing by,’ said Syed Mohsin Shah, the area's top administrator.
 
‘We have six dead and 16 wounded. Now violence has erupted here. They're torching vehicles, ransacking shops and other properties,’ Ehsanullah Khan, a police officer in the town, told Reuters.