Pak chief justice orders reports on Karachi bombing

Pakistan's Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on Monday took suo moto notice of the devastating bomb attack in a Shia-dominated area of Karachi that killed 48 people and sought reports on the incident from police and government officials.

The chief justice converted a report on the incident from the Supreme Court's Registrar into a suo moto case.

He issued notices to the Advocate General and police chief of Sindh province, asking them to submit detailed reports on the deadly bombing.

The hearing of the case, scheduled for March 6, is expected to focus on the failure of authorities to act immediately after the two blasts that ripped through AbbasTown, a Shia-majority area of Karachi, last night.

Several women and children were among the 48 people killed in the terror attack, for which no group has claimed responsibility.

About 200 others were injured and dozens of apartments in two buildings were damaged.

This was the deadliest terrorist assault in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and business hub, since 43 people were killed in an attack on Shia worshippers in December 2009.

The Supreme Court is already hearing a case related to two recent bomb attacks on the Shia Hazara minority in Quetta in the restive Balochistan province.

Nearly 200 people, a majority of them Shias, were killed in attacks in Quetta on January 10 and February 16.

The Supreme Court earlier directed authorities to frame a strategy to protect Shias after the attacks in Quetta, which were claimed by the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

According to Human Rights Watch, more than 400 Shias were killed in Pakistan in 2012, the deadliest year for the minority sect.