video transcript

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) STORY: A suspected suicide bomber attacked Shi'ite Muslims as they were leaving a mosque in Pakistan's commercial capital on Sunday (March 3), killing at least 45 people and wounding more than 100, police said. Senior police official Shabir Ahmad Sheikh said the attack, the latest signal that Sunni militant groups are stepping up pressure on the minority sect, targeted a congested Shi-ite-dominated area in Karachi. Footage of the blast aftermath showed flames raging from destroyed buildings as rescuers searched for survivors beneath the rubble. Some victims were rushed to the hospital while those who died were moved to a nearby morgue. Bombings targeting Shi'ites have killed nearly 200 people in the city of Quetta alone since the start of the year. In 2012, sectarian attacks and clashes climbed by 47 percent to 208, according to the Pak Institute For Peace Studies, a prominent Pakistani think tank.