Blast at Pakistani Shi'ite prayer hall, 4 dead

Peshawar, January 17: A bomb exploded in a crowded Shi'ite Muslim prayer hall in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Thursday, killing four people and wounding several, a government spokesman said.

"At the moment we can't say if it was a suicide bomb," said Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema.

Earlier, district government chief Ghulam Ali said one person had been killed and 17 wounded.

Pakistan's minority Shi'ites are observing a mourning period for the death anniversary of Iman Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, when sectarian violence often flares.