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Pakistan steps up security

Shia festival, attack on mosque in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Pakistani army troops were put on alert on Sunday to guard against sectarian violence, a day after a suicide bomber killed 15 persons in an attack on a Shia mosque in Peshawar, capital of the North West Frontier Province, officials said on Sunday.

Soldiers were ready to be deployed to any of 40 districts considered potential flashpoints for violence during the festival of Ashoura, observed by Pakistan's minority Shia Muslim sect, Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said.

Sharp shooters from the police and paramilitary troops also have been stationed around Shia mosques to prevent further violence.

Appeal for restraint

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister of the North West Frontier Province, Akram Durrani, on Sunday called for restraint by Shias and the majority Sunnis.

Security was also stepped up in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi after an intelligence report indicated the threat of a car bombing, police said. No group has claimed responsibility for Saturday's bombing in Peshawar that also killed the city's police chief and wounded more than 30 other persons, and came as Shias began celebrating their most important annual festival, Ashoura, which has often been a target of anti-Shia violence.

Mr. Durrani asked the public to demonstrate ``patience and maintain religious discipline,'' the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency reported. — AP

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