At least five people have been killed in a blast at the funeral of a Shia cleric in north-western Pakistan, police say. Several others were injured in the explosion, in the town of Dera Ismail Khan, reports said. Soon after the blast, the sound of gunfire was heard, triggering a stampede and panic in the area, a local television channel reported. Violence between Shia and Sunni Muslims is common in Dera Ismail Khan. "A funeral procession of a Shia victim was on its way to the graveyard when a powerful explosion hit it," AFP news agency quoted local police official Khurshid Khan as saying.

"At least five people have died in the attack," Ashiq Saleem, medical superintendent of the city's main government hospital told the BBC. The funeral was for a local Shia cleric killed on Thursday in what the police say appeared to be sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias. News agency