Peshawar, Pakistan: A suicide bomber blew up a car packed with explosives outside a Pakistani hospital on Friday, killing at least eight people in an apparent attack on Shiite Muslims.
It was the fourth attack in Pakistan since Monday and struck the outskirts of the northwestern town of Hangu, a flashpoint for sectarian violence that traditionally flares during the current holy month of Muharram.
"The bomber blew up his car at the hospital gate," said local police chief Abdul Rashid.
"Eight people have died and 19 are wounded," said local commissioner Khalid Khan, updating an earlier death toll of four.
Local officials said the hospital was run by a private Shiite Muslim trust, which also operated a nearby Shiite mosque and seminary.
The attack came just two days after a teenage suicide bomber killed 17 people at a busy market in the garrison town of Kohat, which neighbours Hangu.
Pakistan has stepped up security for Muharram, which began this week and sees tensions rise between Pakistan's majority Sunni Muslim and minority Shiite Muslim communities, and attacks on Shiite religious parades.
Around 4,000 people have died in suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan since government forces raided an extremist mosque in Islamabad in 2007. The attacks have been blamed on networks linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
The northwest has been particularly hard hit. Pakistan last year fought to wrest back control of the northwestern district of Swat from the Taliban and are fighting against homegrown insurgents along the Afghan border.
On Monday, a pair of suicide bombers killed 43 people, attacking anti-Taliban militiamen and pro-government elders in Mohmand, part of the tribal belt that Washington considers the global hub of Al-Qaeda.
The Pakistani Taliban purportedly claimed responsibility for that attack, threatening death to anyone who forms militias against the Islamists.
On Tuesday, a suicide bomber tried to assassinate the chief minister of Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan, damaging his motorcade and wounding nine people but leaving the minister unhurt.
A purported spokesman for the banned extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility, saying the official had been targeted for efforts to provide security to Shiite Muslims, who are frequently attacked in Baluchistan.
It was the fourth attack in Pakistan since Monday and struck the outskirts of the northwestern town of Hangu, a flashpoint for sectarian violence that traditionally flares during the current holy month of Muharram.
"The bomber blew up his car at the hospital gate," said local police chief Abdul Rashid.
"Eight people have died and 19 are wounded," said local commissioner Khalid Khan, updating an earlier death toll of four.
Local officials said the hospital was run by a private Shiite Muslim trust, which also operated a nearby Shiite mosque and seminary.
The attack came just two days after a teenage suicide bomber killed 17 people at a busy market in the garrison town of Kohat, which neighbours Hangu.
Pakistan has stepped up security for Muharram, which began this week and sees tensions rise between Pakistan's majority Sunni Muslim and minority Shiite Muslim communities, and attacks on Shiite religious parades.
Around 4,000 people have died in suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan since government forces raided an extremist mosque in Islamabad in 2007. The attacks have been blamed on networks linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
The northwest has been particularly hard hit. Pakistan last year fought to wrest back control of the northwestern district of Swat from the Taliban and are fighting against homegrown insurgents along the Afghan border.
On Monday, a pair of suicide bombers killed 43 people, attacking anti-Taliban militiamen and pro-government elders in Mohmand, part of the tribal belt that Washington considers the global hub of Al-Qaeda.
The Pakistani Taliban purportedly claimed responsibility for that attack, threatening death to anyone who forms militias against the Islamists.
On Tuesday, a suicide bomber tried to assassinate the chief minister of Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan, damaging his motorcade and wounding nine people but leaving the minister unhurt.
A purported spokesman for the banned extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility, saying the official had been targeted for efforts to provide security to Shiite Muslims, who are frequently attacked in Baluchistan.
