Despite heightened security, roadside blast kills 3 in Pakistan

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By ReutersISLAMABAD — A roadside bomb killed at least three people near a Shiite procession in Pakistan on Saturday, police said, while security forces were on high alert over fears of large-scale attacks on the minority sect across the country.

Pakistan is suspending phone coverage in many cities this weekend, an important one in the Shiite Muslim calendar, after a series of bomb attacks on Shiites triggered by mobile phones.

Follow @NBCNewsWorldHardline Sunnis have threatened more attacks as the Shiite mourning month of Muharram comes to a climax. More than a dozen people have already been killed this week observing Muharram.


Saturday's attack occurred in the city of Dera Ismail Khan in Pakistan's northwest, a stronghold of al-Qaeda-linked Sunni militant groups who regard Shiites as non-Muslims and have stepped up sectarian attacks in a bid to destabilize Pakistan.

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