(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/121230-pakistan-shiites-attacked-531a.photoblog600.jpg)Naseer Ahmed / ReutersParamedics inspect the bodies of Shiite pilgrims killed by a car bomb in Quetta on Sunday. By NBC News staff and wire servicesQUETTA, Pakistan - Pakistani militants, who have escalated attacks in recent weeks, killed at least 40 people in two separate incidents, officials said on Sunday, challenging assertions that military offensives have broken the back of hardline Islamist groups.
A car bomb exploded near a convoy of buses taking Shiite pilgrims to Iran, killing at least 19 people and wounding 30, officials told NBC News, the latest attack on the minority sect.
Earlier Sunday, 21 tribal policemen believed to have been kidnapped by the Taliban were found shot dead in Pakistan's troubled northwest tribal region, government officials said.
Follow @NBCNewsWorld (https://twitter.com/NBCNewsWorld)Witnesses said the blast occurred as the three buses were overtaking a car about 35 miles west of Quetta, capital of sparsely populated Baluchistan province, site of many sectarian attacks, near the Iranian border.
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