Bomb Kills Four Pakistani Explosives Experts; Prominent Cleric Shot

By RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal

December 16, 2013
PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- A roadside bomb has killed a senior bomb-disposal officer and three colleagues in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.

Abdul Haq and his team were heading to defuse an explosive device when their vehicle was hit by a remote-controlled bomb.

No one has claimed responsibility. Haq had defused more than 60 bombs in his career.

In another attack, a prominent Pakistani Shi'ite Muslim cleric, Allama Nasir Abbas, was shot dead in an apparent reprisal attack following the killing this month of a Sunni Muslim leader.

Abbas, the leader of a banned Shi'ite organization, was shot by unknown gunmen in the city of Lahore late on December 15.

More than 800 Shi'a have been killed in attacks in Pakistan since the beginning of 2012.

Sunni Muslims make up a majority in the country.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters