Pak steps up security around Iranian missions

A tank sat outside an Iranian mission in Pakistan on Friday, part of stepped-up security a day after seven people were killed in an attack on an Iranian cultural centre.

In a condolence letter to Iranian President Rafsanjani, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he hoped the "cowardly act'' in Multan, 600 km southeast of Islamabad, would not damage relations between the two neighbours.

The Pakistani government promised to tighten security for Iranian diplomats. Police were seen around Iranian missions in several Pakistani cities, including the southern industrial hub of Karachi, where the tank was parked.

Police set up checkpoints where cars were being searched in Multan in an effort to track down the attackers.

No one has claimed responsibility for the Multan attack the second on an Iranian cultural centre in Pakistan in the past month. But it appeared to be part of an ongoing fight between Shiite and Sunni Muslim groups in Pakistan that has led to hundreds of deaths in the past year.

Attackers armed with automatic weapons yesterday stormed the Multan centre, killing the Iranian director, Mohammed Ali Rahimi, and six Pakistani employees. The gunmen set fire to the building before escaping by car and motorcycle.

The arson attack came a day after the bombing of a Lahore courthouse that killed 25 people, including militant Sunni leader Zia-ur Rehman.

Pakistani Sunnis, who claim Iran's Shiite regime backs militant Shiite Muslims in Pakistan, blamed Teheran for the bombing.

Iran's official Islamic republic news agency accused Rehman's group, Guardians of the Friends of the Prophet, of being behind the Multan attack.

However, a spokesman for the party on Friday denied involvement in the attack.

UNI