6 killed, 50 injured in bomb blast in Karachi

At least six people were killed and 50 others injured in a bomb blast in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi on Friday.

Local police told Xinhua that the explosion happened at around 1:30 p.m. local time (0830 GMT) at a Shiite mosque during Friday prayers in the southern part of the city, which is the commercial hub of Pakistan.

The bomb, which went off in the first row of worshipers inside the praying hall, was likely to be the handiwork of a suicide attacker, said the police.

The powerful bomb damaged the ceiling of the mosque, said the police, adding the injured have been rushed to hospitals.

As seven of the injured are in critical conditions, the death toll is feared to rise.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for the attack and the police have not blamed any group for it.

This is the second attack on the Shiite minority community in the country, where above 96 percent of the 140-million population are Muslims and merely five percent of the Muslims belong to the Shiite section.

Last June in Quetta, capital of Balochistan province, gunmen attacked a Shiite mosque, killing 50 and injuring many others.

Source: Xinhua