ISLAMABAD – A suicide bomber blew himself up yesterday outside a Shia Muslim meeting hall in Muzaffarabad, the main city in the Pakistani part of the disputed Kashmir region, killing at least five people, police said.
The blast underscored security challenges facing US ally Pakistan, which is already struggling against al-Qaeda-linked militants and is under US pressure to help stabilise Afghanistan, where a Taliban insurgency is raging.
The explosion went off at the end of a procession for Ashura, the Shia calendar’s biggest event. A witness said he saw body parts of the bomber on the street in the city.
– (Reuters)