PAKISTAN ATTACKS KILL 36 AS SUMMIT CONVENES
Police used lamps and torches to work through the night, and confirmed the final death toll after daybreak with eight children among the wounded
ISLAMABAD, Nov 22, (AFP) Muslim leaders gathered for a rare summit in Islamabad on Thursday as militant attacks killed 36 people across the country on one of the deadliest days of violence claimed by the Taliban in months.
The string of attacks on Shiite Muslims and Pakistani security forces underscored the immense security challenge in a country where Taliban and Al-Qaedalinked extremists bitterly oppose the US-allied government.
Twenty-three people were killed and 62 wounded overnight in Rawalpindi, the twin city of Islamabad, where Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan are chief among the summit guests.
Police said a suicide bomber struck a procession of Shiite Muslims who were commemorating the holy month of Muharram, which is frequently targeted by sectarian extremists in Pakistan.
Police used lamps and torches to work through the night, and confirmed the final death toll after daybreak with eight children among the wounded.
It was the deadliest bombing in Pakistan since 29 people were killed in the northwestern district of Khyber on June 16 and the worst attack on Shiites since February 17 when a suicide bomber killed 31 people in northwestern Kurram.