KARACHI - A Pakistani Shiite religious leader and three others were killed in a suicide bomb attack in the port city of Karachi. Allama Hassan Turrabi, his nephew and two police guards were taken to hospital after sustaining serious injuries in the attack.However, Turrabi and his nephew later died of their injuries, regional Home Minister Rauf Siddiqui confirmed. Earlier, KarachiÂ’s chief of police, Niaz Siddiqui, told reporters a suicide bomber, who had strapped explosives to his body, blew himself up as Turrabi arrived at his house in Abbas. A child was also killed in the attack.
Siddiqui said that the attackerÂ’s head and both legs were lying at the scene of the blast, adding, that police had found a hand grenade, which had not detonated. The attacker is believed to have carried the grenade, but had been unable to hurl it over TurrabiÂ’s vehicle, the official added.
Turrabi was the leader of the six-party Islamic opposition alliance, Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). Hundreds of people gathered outside the hospital chanting anti- government slogans. TurrabiÂ’s body was being transferred to a Shiite mosque in Karachi.