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Gunmen mow down 15 Shia worshippers in Pakistan

Gunmen opened fire as Shiite Muslim worshippers knelt in prayer at a mosque in eastern Punjab province of Pakistan today, killing 15 people and wounding at least 25 others, the police said.

No one has taken immediate responsibility for the attack.

The attack in Shah Jamal, some 300 km south of Lahore, occurred as 100 Shiite Muslim worshippers were finishing their morning prayers that marked the beginning of their day-long fast.

Police fear the attack is part of the relentless violence between rival Shiite and Sunni Muslim sects that has killed hundreds of people in Pakistan, mostly in the Punjab province.

In the last one year scores of people have been massacred in attacks between the rival sects.

The main combatants have been members of the Sunni Muslim militant group Sipah-e-Sahabah or guardians of the friends of the prophet and the Shiite Muslim organisation known as the Tehrik-e-Jaffria or group for Shiite Muslim law.

Many of the senior leaders of both groups have been arrested in recent months as the government has tried to stop the bloodletting between the two Islamic sects.

Most of Pakistan's 140 million people are Sunni Muslims who get along with their Shiite Muslim brethren. However, militant groups from both sects have sprung up and they routinely attack each other.

UNI

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