QUETTA: At least 22 people were killed on Friday in a suicide attack targeting a Shiite Muslim rally in Pakistan's southwest city of Quetta, the latest in a string of sectarian attacks.

Police officials said unrest had broken out following the attack, with people setting fires as others fled or lay on the ground to avoid ongoing gunfire.

The bomb appeared to target a rally of 450 people being held for Al Quds day, an international annual event held by the Shiite community opposing Israel's control of Jerusalem and showing solidarity with Palestinian Muslims.

"At least 22 dead bodies have been moved to different hospitals.

More than 40 people have been injured," said Akbar Magsi, a senior police office in Quetta.

Two intelligence officials in Quetta confirmed the death toll.

Local television channel AaJ reported that one of its drivers had been killed in the blast, while other stations reported that a reporter and three cameramen were wounded in the incident.

Volunteer worker Mujahid, at the scene, told ARY TV: "We have moved 17 injured people to hospital." Television channels showed patients being wheeled into a nearby hospital.

It was the latest in a string of attacks as Muslims marked the final days of the holy month of Ramadan.

Earlier, at least one man was killed and four wounded Friday when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a mosque of the Ahmadi sect in the city of Mardan in northwest Pakistan, police said.

"A suicide bomber was trying to enter the Ahmadis' worship place, but he was intercepted by the guards outside and blew himself up," Mardan police chief Waqif Khan said.
"
A passerby was killed and four others were wounded in the firing and suicide attack," Khan said, adding that it was unclear whether the man was killed by the bomb or by gunshots fired by the guards.

Police have handed over the bomber's body parts to a forensic team, he said.

In the northwest city of Peshawar, which has often been targeted by militants, at least three policemen were injured when a bomb exploded near their patrol vehicle, police said.

The officers were checking vehicles on the city's ring road and senior police official Mohammad Karim Khan said the bomb was detonated by remote control.

Agence France-Presse