Suicide bomber kills 10 at Shiite mosque in Pakistan

QUETTA: A suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque killing at least 10 Shiite minority Muslims and wounding 12 others in a remote southwestern Pakistani town on Thursday, officials said.
The attack took place as Shiites gathered at the mosque in the town of Chalgari in restive Baluchistan, some 170 kilometers southeast of the provincial capital, Quetta.
“At least 10 people were killed and 12 others were wounded after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a mosque,” provincial home minister Sarfraz Bugti told AFP.
Local administration official Mohammad Waseem confirmed the attack and death toll. Bugti said there were six children between 10 and 12 years old among the dead and that some women had also died. He added that the death toll may rise.
Waseem said the suspected suicide bomber appeared to be about 18 years old and was wearing a woman’s burqa, an all enveloping head-to-toe garment.
Sectarian violence has claimed thousands of lives in the country over the past decade. Many of the worst atrocities have taken place in the southwestern province of Baluchistan.
Pakistan’s military said Thursday it had killed 21 militants in air strikes in a restive northwestern tribal area bordering Afghanistan.
The strikes were carried out late Thursday in the Rajgal and Tirah areas of the lawless Khyber tribal district, where Taliban militant and local militant groups are active.