By IRNA,
Islamabad : Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday strongly condemned the bomb attack on a funeral procession in the country’s northwest which killed at least 10 people.
The attack was carried out when funeral procession of a youth was being taken to graveyard in the city of Dera Ismail Khan in North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
The NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain confirmed 10 deaths in the attack at 11 a.m.
Hussain said that around 25 were also injured.
President Zardari in a statement deplored the tragic act and said the perpetrators of such heinous crime would not be spared, an official statement said.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in a separate message also condemned the bomb blast in strongest terms.
He directed the authorities to investigate into the matter and asked the provincial government to provide necessary facilities to the injured for their treatment.
Information from Dera Ismail Khan said that angry people resorted to arson and firing after the attack.
Several buses and shops were torched and the protestors took to the streets and chanted slogans against the government and local police for failure to check lawlessness.
Unidentified gunmen shot dead two Shia Muslims in the city over the past 12 hours and funeral procession for one of the slain men was attacked.
The funeral of Iqbal Shah, one of the two Shia Muslims, who were shot dead in Dera Ismail Khan City over the past 12 hours, came under bomb attack at Kotli Imam neighborhood, witnesses said.
Shah was shot dead last night when he was returning home.
According to a police officer Sanaullah the attack was seemed to be carried out through remote control.
Earlier police sources indicated that the blast may be a suicide attack.
Gunmen men also shot dead a Shia cleric Nazeer Naqvi Friday morning in the city.
Naqvi was custodian of a local Shiite mosque, locals said.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
But extremist rivals are blamed for such attacks.
Police stepped up security in the sectarian violence-hit city to check any backlash.
The injured were shifted to the District Hospital Dera Ismail Khan and a large number of people rushed the hospital to donate blood after authorities dealing with the injured were reported to be appealing for blood donations.
Witnesses said that one person was killed when protestors started firing in different parts of the city.
Hundreds of people have died in recent months in battles between the security forces and pro-Taleban militants.
The border areas of North West Frontier Province are a hotbed of militancy and considered to be a breeding ground for the Taleban and al-Qaeda.