Eight die as Pakistan bomber targets hospital

A SUICIDE bomber attacked a hospital emergency room where Shiite Muslims were mourning a bank manager, killing eight people including a journalist and two policemen in Quetta, south-west Pakistan, police said.

A suspected US missile strike, meanwhile, reportedly killed four alleged militants in the country's northwestern tribal belt.

Yesterday's explosion in Quetta underscored the poor security in Pakistan, where sectarian violence remains a problem even as al-Qaeda and Taleban militants pose a growing – and linked – threat. It was not the first time Shiite mourners have been attacked at hospitals in Pakistan, evidence of a tactic favoured by Sunni extremists.

Gunshots rang out after the explosion at the Civil Hospital, and rescuers carried away the dead and wounded, TV footage showed.

Among the dead was a cameraman working for Pakistan's Samaa TV, said Saifuddin Khan, a hospital official. Two policemen also died, and 35 people were wounded in the apparent sectarian attack, said Qazi Abdul Wahid, a senior police investigator.

Journalists were at the hospital covering the aftermath of yesterday's shooting of the bank manager, who was from a prominent Shiite family. A gunman shot him outside the bank on a major city road, officials said.

The emergency room was full of his friends and relatives when the bomber struck, police said.

Quetta, capital of Baluchistan province, is believed to be a major centre for Afghan Taleban leaders. However, violence in Baluchistan has been blamed on separatist groups or tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

The reported missile strike took place in the Toorkhel area in North Waziristan, a tribal region filled with al-Qaeda and Taleban members.

At least four suspected militants were killed, said Noor Ahmad, a government official. The dead have not been named.