HIGHLIGHTS: Sectarian Violence Between Fueding Religious Sects Likely to Blame.
Shiites Were At the Mosque For an Annual Religious Gathering.
(Read photo caption within)

STORYA bomb killed 12 women and children during a gathering of thousands of Shi'ite Muslims at a mosque in an area of central Pakistan that has been hit by religious violence.

It was not immediately clear who planted the bomb, which wounded at least 23 people when it went off late Thursday in the women's section of the segregated mosque at Bhakkar town in Punjab province.

Residents said sectarian violence between militants from the Shi'ite and Sunni sects of Islam was most likely to blame.
But it came just days before an April 30 referendum on General Pervez Musharraf's referendum to legitimize a further five years in power as Pakistani President and amid his crackdown on Islamic militancy.

Residents said thousands of Shiites were at the mosque for an annual gathering.

In the capital Islamabad around 200 Shi'ites took to the streets to protest against the Bhakkar killings.

Violence between militants from the majority Sunni and minority Shi'ite sects of Islam has killed hundreds of people in Pakistan during the last decade. Shi'ites make up about 15 percent of Pakistan's 140 million people.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in January vowed to clamp down on sectarian extremism as part of the broader crackdown on Islamic militants.

PHOTO CAPTION:

Pakistani Shi'ite Muslims chant anti-government slogans at a protest rally in Islamabad April 26, 2002. Twelve women and children were killed and 23 wounded in an overnight bomb blast in the women's section of a segregated Shi'ite Muslim congregation in Bhakkar town in central Punjab province. Residents said sectarian violence between militants from the Shi'ite and Sunni sects of Islam was most likely to blame for the blast. (Mian Khursheed/Reuters)