20 dead in Pakistan hospital bomb blast

PESHAWAR (PAKISTAN): A bomb blast ripped through a hospital on Tuesday in a northwestern Pakistani town that has been plagued by sectarian violence, killing at least 20 people, police said. (Watch)

The explosion happened as Shiite Muslims gathered to protest over the death of a man in a suspected sectarian attack in the troubled town of Dera Ismail Khan, provincial police spokesman Riaz Ahmed said.

"A Shiite salesman was fatally wounded in an attack at a grocery store and was brought to the city's district hospital, when there was a blast in the emergency ward," Ahmed told media.

"The bodies are being evacuated, the dead included civilians and policemen. It is not clear if the blast was a suicide attack," he said.

He did not have an immediate death toll but senior local administration official Mohsin Shah said 20 people were killed. Another police official speaking on condition of anonymity said the incident could be linked to sectarian violence.