Local Editor, 06-02-2010

At least 26 people were killed yesterday and over 80 seriously wounded in a pair of attacks in the Pakistani city of Karachi.

A motorcycle suicide bomber hit a bus during a Shiia religious procession in the city, killing 13 and wounding scores. Almost half an hour later, another bomber attacked the emergency ward of the hospital where people injured in the first attack were being treated.

Virtually all of the casualties were Shiia civilians commemorating the Arba'een of Imam Hussein (pbuh) in the city. Pakistani government officials declared that the attacks aimed at stirring sectarian violence. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks yet.

Though this appears to be the first recent religiously motivated attack in the city, Karachi has also been suffering a rising number of political attacks. Members of the ruling PPP target MQM party workers, and vice-versa.

The growing unrest in Karachi has led the province's Home Minister Zulifiqar Mirza to suggest he will soon approach the army about taking over day-to-day operations inside Karachi.