A bomb ripped through a Shiite Muslim mosque in Pakistan's eastern province of Punjab, killing 12 female worshipers and wounding others, hospital officials said today.
The device exploded near midnight Thursday in Bhakkar, about 185 miles southwest of the federal capital, Islamabad.
The bomb was apparently planted near the section of the mosque where women pray, said Mohammed Nisar, a doctor at the only hospital in Bhakkar, where the victims were taken. Mosques are segregated.
Police have not made any arrests, but Pakistan, and Punjab province in particular, has been racked by religious violence in recent years.
