Two bombs kill at least 36 at Sunni gathering in Pakistan

MULTAN, Pakistan -- Two bombs exploded at a gathering of Sunni Muslim radicals in the central Pakistan city of Multan before dawn today, killing at least 36 people and wounding about 100, according to police, who suspect a sectarian attack.

The bombing comes six days after a suicide attack left 31 dead at a Shi'ite mosque in Sialkot, an eastern city. About 3,000 people had gathered in Multan to mark the first anniversary of the killing of the leader of the outlawed Sunni radical group, Sipah-e-Sahaba.

A car bomb exploded near the venue, and within minutes a second bomb attached to a motorcycle went off, deputy city police chief Arshad Hameed said.

Arif Saeed, an official at the Nishtar government hospital, said up to 100 people were wounded, about 50 seriously. Some 30 were treated for minor injuries and later discharged. Other people had been taken to other clinics.

Hameed said the car blew up minutes after a man had parked it, probably detonated by remote control. Explosive experts were sifting through the debris, trying to collect pieces of the bomb.

''It seems to be an act of sectarian terrorism, but we are still investigating," he said.

Multan police chief Sikander Hayyat told the Geo television network it did not appear to be a suicide attack as no body parts were found inside the car.Witnesses said about 2,000 angry Sunnis gathered outside the Nishtar hospital after the bombings, shouting "Shiites are infidels!"

Police said they were stepping up security in the city, which has suffered sectarian violence in the past. Sunni Muslims make up about 80 percent of Pakistan's 150 million people, and most of the rest are Shi'ites.

''We condemn this terrorist attack. This is tragic," Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said in the capital Islamabad.

The first blast occurred around 4:40 a.m. as the gathering was praying for Sipah-e-Sahaba leader Maulana Azam Tariq, who was gunned down near Islamabad last year. The attack was blamed on Shi'ite Muslim militants.

A leader of the group said he believed Thursday's bombings were a sectarian attack by radical Shiite Muslims.

''This is the worst kind of terrorism, and everybody knows who is behind it," said Ahmad Ludhianvi, the head of Sipah-e-Sahaba.He said about 3,000 people were at the gathering in Multan's Rashidabad neighborhood. The vehicles that exploded were parked nearby, he said.