Suicide attack kills 16 at shrine

A suicide bomber struck a Shiite shrine packed with worshippers in a remote village in Pakistan’s south west yesterday, killing 16 people and wounding 30.

The attacker detonated his explosives vest when he was stopped for a routine search by a police officer guarding the shrine in the village of Jhal Masgi, about 240 miles east of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.

Anwarul Haq Kakar, spokesman for the provincial government, said the death toll could rise.

Mohammad Iqbal, a district police chief, said five children, a woman and a police officer were among those killed.