KOHAT, Pakistan (Reuters) - Suspected pro-Taliban militants shot and killed four Shi'ite Muslims in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday in what appeared to be the second deadly sectarian attack in two days.
Pakistan has a bloody history of violence between militantsfrom the majority Sunni community and minority Shi'ites and arecent spate of attacks could be the work of pro-Talibanmilitants seeking to open a new front, a Shi'ite leader said.
Separately, the government's top Interior Ministry officialtold parliament authorities had foiled suicide attacks on aprotest by lawyers last week, arresting six suspected suicidebombers.
In Tuesday's attack, gunmen opened fire from a car at agroup of men in the main market of the town of Hangu.
"The men were from the same family and were killed on thespot. It appears to be a sectarian attack," said senior Hangupolice official Quresh Khan.
The attack came a day after four Shi'ite Muslims werekilled in a bomb attack on a mosque in the northwestern town ofDera Ismail Khan, where four Shi'ites and a policemen werekilled in a drive-by shooting late last month.
Also on Tuesday, police in Hangu found the body of aShi'ite Muslim taxi driver who was kidnapped last week.
A Shi'ite political leader said pro-Taliban militants basedin tribal regions on the Afghan border, who are hardlineSunnis, were likely behind the violence.
"It's shocking ... It could be the work of militantsfighting in tribal areas who may want to open a new front orforeign hands who want uncertainty in Pakistan," said AbdulJalil Naqvi, a leader of a Shi'ite party, the Islami Tehrik.
Thousand of people have been killed in tit-for-tatsectarian attacks in Pakistan over nearly three decades.
Shi'ites make up about 15 percent of Pakistan's populationof 160 million people. The huge majority of ordinary members ofthe two Muslim sects live together peacefully.
A new government that emerged from elections in February istrying to negotiate an end to militant violence, and attacks,particularly on the security forces, have eased off in recentmonths.
But six people were killed in a suicide car-bomb attack onthe Danish embassy in Islamabad on June 2.
The Interior Ministry's top official, Rehman Malik, toldthe National Assembly that, as well as arresting six suspectedsuicide bombers, authorities had seized 45 kg (100 lb) ofexplosives that were to have been used to attack the lawyers'protest.
Lawyers staged a peaceful three-day motorcade protestacross the country last week to press their demands that judgesPresident Pervez Musharraf dismissed last year be reinstated.
(Reporting by Mohammad Hashim and Kamran Haider; Writing byAugustine Anthony; Editing by Robert Birsel and AlexRichardson)
