Seven killed, 20 wounded in shooting at Muslim mosque in eastern Pakistan

Three armed assailants attacked a mosque belonging to a small Muslim sect in eastern Pakistan early Friday, killing at least seven people and wounding 20 others, police said.

The attack on the mosque belonging to Ahmadiyya sect happened in the village of Mong, about 400 kilometers (240 miles) northeast of Multan, a main city in the eastern Punjab province, said Mohammed Arif, an area police officer.

"So far we only know that three men riding on a motorcycle suddenly came in the village Friday morning. Two of them went inside the mosque and started firing," he said.

Arshad Nawaz, a doctor at a government hospital in the area, confirmed that they had received seven bodies and 20 injured, but gave no other details.

The Ahmadiyya sect was founded in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, a 19th century Indian religious leader who claimed to be a prophet seeking Islam's renewal. The religious group differs with other mainstream Muslim groups over the definition of Islam's founder Mohammad being the "final" prophet.

Ahmadiyas have been persecuted and ostracized in many countries, including mainly Sunni Muslim Pakistan, where law passed in 1970s forbids them to call themselves Muslim, reports the AP.

P.T.