Pakistan bicycle bomber kills 14 at Sunni school awards

A bomb attached to a bicycle exploded outside a seminary in south-west Pakistan yesterday, killing at least 14 people, police said.

More than 40 were wounded in the attack in Quetta, capital of Baluchistan, senior officer Hamid Shakil said. Most of the dead and wounded were students at a Sunni Muslim seminary.

No-one immediately claimed responsibility.

At the time the bomb went off, hundreds of students, teachers and parents were in the Jamia Islamia Maftah-ul-Uloom seminary, attending a ceremony to award certificates to students who had completed their basic religious education.

Baluchistan borders Afghanistan to the west and is believed to be a refuge for Taleban and Pakistani militants. It has also witnessed a decades-long insurgency by tribal elders and nationalists who demand greater autonomy and a larger share of the province’s natural gas and oil resources.

There have also been scores of sectarian attacks blamed on Sunni militants with links to the Afghan Taleban who target Shia Muslims. Many Sunni extremists do not consider Shias to be true Muslims.

In October, gunmen on the outskirts of Quetta stopped two buses, singled out Shia passengers, lined them up and shot them; 13 people were killed in the incident, one of the worst acts of sectarian violence in or around Quetta in recent years.