ISLAMABAD (AP) The Pakistani government imposed a rare curfew on Saturday in a northern city where sectarian clashes during a Shiite religious commemoration broke out the day before, while Taliban insurgents threatened to avenge the eight Sunni Muslims who authorities say were killed.
Outbursts of sectarian violence occur regularly in Pakistan. Hard-liners from the Sunni majority who consider Shiites to be heretics have targeted the sect with bombs and shootings, with Shiite attacks on Sunnis less common, at least in recent years.
In the wake of Friday's clashes, residents of Rawalpindi, a city next to the capital that is home to a large military presence, were ordered to stay in their homes until further notice, said Shoaib Bin Aziz, the head of the information department of the government of Punjab province.
Soldiers and police were patrolling the streets to enforce the curfew, and many of the streets leading into the city were blocked by shipping containers and trucks.
The Sunnis who were killed were from an Islamic seminary affiliated with an anti-Shiite group, Ahle Sunnat Waljamaat. The clash started when hundreds of Shiites marched past the seminary in a procession to mark Ashoura, one of the sect's most important religious occasions.