Two Sunni Clerics Killed in Pakistan

Unidentified gunmen killed two prominent Sunni Muslim clerics Saturday in an attack on their vehicle in this southern port city, police said.

The killings of Mufti Jamil and Nazir Ahmed Taunsvi came amid escalating sectarian violence in Pakistan as two bombings against rival religious targets this month killed more than 70 people.

Both Jamil and Taunsvi were close associates of another Sunni cleric, Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai, who was shot dead in May in Karachi, sparking riots by his followers.

There was no immediate word on who was responsible for Saturday’s assault, but suspicion probably will fall on minority Shiite militants.

Pakistan has a history of sectarian violence between the majority Sunnis and Shiites. Most adherents live peacefully together, but small extremist groups from both sects have frequently staged attacks.

President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz condemned the killings and reiterated their resolve “to root out the menace of terrorism from the country.”

A prominent Shiite leader, Allama Hasan Tarabi, condemned the killings of the Sunni scholars as “the murder of humanity.”

He appealed for clerics of all the sects to find out “who is trying to pit Shiites and Sunni Muslims against each other.”

Elsewhere in the region, a suicide car bomber rammed into an army convoy Saturday in Indian-controlled Kashmir, triggering an explosion that killed four people and wounded 22, the army said.

An Islamic militant group, Jaish-e-Muhammad, claimed responsibility for the attack, news reports said.