ISLAMABAD, Oct 7 (AFP) - Two bombs ripped through a gathering of Sunni Muslim radicals in the central Pakistani city of Multan Thursday, killing at least 33 people and wounding over 70, police said.
The early morning explosions targetted a meeting of over 1,000 Sunnis who had gathered to mark the first anniversary of the death of radical Sunni militant leader Azam Tariq.
"At least 33 people are killed and more than 70 have been injured in two explosions," police officer Muhammad Yaseen told AFP.
"There is chaos and panic in central Multan and we are trying to control the situation."
Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid condemned the attack, which comes just days after a suicide bombing of a Shiite Muslim mosque in the eastern city of Sialkot blamed on Sunni radicals killed over 30 worshippers.
"It is an act of brutal terrorism aimed at creating instability in the country," Rashid told AFP.
The prayer gathering in Multan's main Rasheedabad square had lasted the whole night and the crowd was beginning to disperse when the dawn calm was shattered by back-to-back explosions.
Police officer Yaseen said witnesses at the scene indicated at least one of the blasts was a car bomb. He said an emergency was declared in the city as ambulances rushes casualties to the city's main Nishter hospital.
Azam Tariq, the founder of the outlawed Sunni extremist group Sipah-e-Sahaba of Pakistan, was shot dead on October 6 last year near the capital Islamabad. The cleric's death was blamed on Shiite extremists.
The latest sectarian attack in Pakistan follows the suicide attack on the main Shiite mosque during last week's Friday prayers. The attack left over 30 dead and sparked riots between worshippers and police.
Police blamed two radical Sunni Muslim groups -- Lashkar-e-Jahngvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) -- for the Sialkot attack.
Fanatics from Pakistan's Sunni Muslim majority and Shiite minority, most of whom co-habit peacefully, have been involved in bitter tit-for-tat violence since the 1980s. The conflict has so far cost more than 4,000 lives.
Pakistani security officers say radicals linked to Osama bin Laden's radical Sunni extremist group Al-Qaeda have been fuelling the sectarian conflict in Pakistan in recent months.