Pakistan Shia leader shot dead

A prominent Pakistani Shia Muslim leader has been shot dead in the southern city of Karachi, along with his son and his driver.

Lawyer Waqar Hussain Naqvi, secretary general of the leading Shia party Tehrik-e-Jaffria, was killed as he was dropping off his daughter at her school.

Police say four unidentified gunmen on motorcycles blocked the car and began firing indiscriminately.

All three people in the car were killed.

Police have stepped up security after the shooting, to defuse tension in the area.

It is not clear who was behind the killing but reports say police suspect a sectarian motive.

Rivalry

A spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Jaffria, Hassan Turabi, blamed a rival Sunni extremist group, the Sipah-e-Sahaba for the murder.

"He [Waqar Naqvi] is not only our leader but he was defending the cases against our workers," Mr Turabi is quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

He demanded that the killers be immediately arrested and warned of a possible reaction to the killing from his party.

The attack took place on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Moharram, when Shia Muslims hold religious processions to mourn the death of Prophet Mohammad's grandson.

In recent years, many people have been killed in violence between Shia and Sunni groups in Karachi.

But this would be the first major incident of sectarian violence following the military takeover by General Pervez Musharraf at the end of last year.