Suicide bomber kills 28 in Pakistan

By Laura King
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

2:55 AM PST, February 20, 2009

KARACHI, Pakistan — A suicide bomber killed at least 28 people today in a town near Pakistan's tribal areas, the latest in an escalating series of attacks targeting the country's Shiite Muslim minority.

Several of the most lethal bombings of recent months have apparently been motivated by sectarian strife, rather than the more typical attacks by Islamic militants against government and military installations.

Many analysts believe Pakistan's Taliban movement is actively fomenting sectarian violence as a means of sowing chaos and further destabilizing Pakistan's shaky central government.

Today's attack took place in the town of Dera Ismail Khan, which is close to the border of the South Waziristan tribal agency, where both Al Qaeda and the Taliban have a well-established foothold.

(More here.)