Pakistan has declared heat wave emergency as the death toll topped 450 in southern Sindh province.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said it had received orders from PM Nawaz Sharif to undertake immediate response measures.
The army has also been deployed to set up heat stroke centers and assist the NDMA, it added.
Many of the victims are elderly people from low income families.
Health officials say many deaths have been in the largest city, Karachi, which has experienced temperatures as high as 45C (113F) in recent days.
Hundreds of patients suffering from the effects of the heat wave are being treated at government hospitals, provincial health secretary Saeed Mangnejo said.
The demand for electricity for air conditioning has coincided with increased power needs over Ramadan, when Muslims fast during daylight hours.
Hot weather is not unusual during summer months in Pakistan, but prolonged power outages seem to have made matters worse.
Sporadic angry protests have taken place in parts of the city, with some people blaming the government and the city’s main power utility, K-Electric, for failing to avoid deaths.
PM Nawaz Sharif had announced that there will be no electricity cuts but outages have increased since the start of Ramadan.
According to Pakistan’s metrological office cooler weather is forecast from June 23.
The all-time highest temperature reached in Karachi is 47C (117F), recorded in 1979.
Last month, nearly 1,700 people died in a heat wave in neighboring India.
Gunmen attacked a bus carrying Ismaili Shia Muslims in the Pakistani city of Karachi, killing at least 43 and injuring other 20, police say.
According to Karachi police, six gunmen on motorcycles, appearing to be from a banned extremist group, stopped the bus and fired indiscriminately.
The bus carrying about 60 was going to an Ismaili Shia place of worship.
Shia minority are the target of frequent sectarian attacks from Sunni militant groups.
Photo EPA
No group has yet said it carried out the attack.
Provincial police chief Ghulam Haider Jamali said the attack appeared to be the work of the same group involved in recent drive-by shootings of senior police officials in Karachi.
Ghulam Haider Jamali said the bus was on its way to an Ismaili Shia Muslim place of worship when gunmen boarded it in the Safoora Goth area of Karachi and fired at those on board.
The attackers are said to have escaped easily.
The Taliban and other Sunni Muslim extremist groups have targeted Shia Muslims in Pakistan in the past.
In the last few months, several mosques belonging to religious minorities have been bombed.
Pakistan is about 20% Shia and 70% Sunni. Ismaili Shias, in common with other Shia Muslims revere Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed.
Pakistani human rights activist Sabeen Mahmud has been killed in a drive-by shooting in Karachi after hosting a talk on allegations of torture in the province of Balochistan.
Sabeen Mahmud was shot dead as she drove home with her mother, who was also attacked.
She had been the subject of death threats before.
Tributes were paid to her on social media as soon as news of her death emerged.
Sabeen Mahmud was a director of the charity The Second Floor, also known as T2F.
T2F regularly holds seminars on human rights issues. It houses a cafe and book shop where Karachi’s liberal activists and students can meet.
The seminar on torture in Balochistan was held at T2F, having been cancelled by university authorities in Lahore, where it had been due to take place in the last few weeks.
Photo Flickr
Taliban militants, Baloch separatists and other groups fight in Balochistan, which borders Iran.
Shortly after leaving the event, Sabeen Mahmud and her mother were shot.
According to Dawn newspaper, Sabeen Mahmud died on her way to hospital, and that she had been shot five times.
The newspaper reported that Sabeen Mahmud’s mother is in a critical condition in hospital.
No group has yet said it carried out the attack, though Sabeen Mahmud is believed to have been the subject of threats by the Pakistani Taliban in the past.
Sabeen Mahmud set up T2F having already established a charity, PeaceNiche, in Karachi.
She said she “maxed out seven credit cards” to keep the centre going.
Sabeen Mahmud also helped promote the importance of learning computer skills among Pakistani youth, and hosted hundreds of events at T2F.
Clashes between Pakistani police and crowds protesting over an image of the Prophet Muhammad published in Charlie Hebdo have erupted near the French consulate in Karachi.
The authorities used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the demonstration.
The protest was part of a nationwide rally called by Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan’s largest Islamist party.
Charlie Hebdo featured a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad this week, a week after two gunmen carried out a massacre at its offices.
Twelve people were killed in the Paris attack, carried out by two French Muslims angry over earlier depictions of Muhammad in the magazine.
On January 15, Pakistani politicians passed a motion condemning Charlie Hebdo for publishing the latest cartoon.
Religious leaders openly called for journalists at the magazine to be hanged, and several religious groups called for protests after Friday prayers.
In Karachi, at least three people were injured during the clashes between police and about 200 protesters, who were mostly student activists from Jamaat-e-Islami.
Three people were reportedly hurt in the clashes, though it was not clear how they sustained their injuries.
One of the injured has since been confirmed as Asif Hassan, a photographer for the news agency AFP.
He was shot in the chest but doctors say he is out of danger following surgery.
Pakistan has denied firing bullets at the protesters, claiming the police only fired shots into the air.
The protesters had tried to get inside the French consulate.
Protest leaders said they wanted to hand a written complaint to consulate officials, but were stopped by police near the main entrance.
Witnesses say the police used batons, water cannon, tear gas and shooting in the air to disperse the protesters.
The area is now quiet, and protesters have been forced away from the consulate.
Pakistan also erupted in protests in 2006 over publication by a Danish newspaper of cartoon images of Muhammad.
A Pakistani bus has collided with an oil tanker near Karachi leaving more than 50 people dead and injuring score of others, doctors say.
The tanker was reportedly speeding and travelling on the wrong side of the road when it hit the bus head-on. Both vehicles burst into flames.
Some passengers travelling on the roof of the bus were able to jump to safety but many of those inside were trapped.
The driver of the tanker is said to have fled the scene after the incident.
The bus, which was carrying more than 60 passengers, was travelling to the town of Shikarpur when the incident happened about 31 miles outside of Karachi.
Dr. Seemi Jamali, who heads the emergency department at Jinnah Hospital in Karachi, said they had received 57 bodies.
He said some of the victims were charred beyond recognition and warned that the death toll could rise.
Pakistan has a high number of fatal traffic accidents, with nearly 9,000 crashes and an average of 4,500 deaths on the road each year.
Hamid Mir, one of Pakistan’s best known television presenters, has been shot and wounded by gunmen in the city of Karachi.
Police said the attackers opened fire on Hamid Mir’s car near the airport.
The presenter for Geo TV received three bullets, but was in a stable condition, the officials added.
There have been previous attempts on the life of Hamid Mir, the first journalist to interview Osama bin Laden after 9/11.
Pakistan is one of the most dangerous countries for the media.
The attack has been strongly condemned by Pakistani politicians, including PM Nawaz Sharif.
Hamid Mir is one of Pakistan’s best known television presenters (photo Geo TV)
Last month, Nawaz Sharif pledged to do more to protect journalists in Pakistan.
Hamid Mir had just landed in Karachi and was on his way to the studios of Geo TV, a private Pakistani news channel, when unidentified gunmen in a car and on motorcycles reportedly tailed him before opening fire.
Police said he sustained three gunshot wounds, but that his life was not in danger.
Hamid Mir’s brother, a leading investigative journalist, has accused the country’s intelligence agency, the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence), of orchestrating the attack.
According to his brother, Hamid Mir had recently told family and colleagues that he had received threats from the ISI because of his political views.
In 2012, the Pakistani Taliban tried to kill Hamid Mir by planting 1lb of explosives under his car outside his home in the capital, Islamabad.
But the remote-controlled bomb failed to go off.
The Taliban had threatened Hamid Mir and other journalists for their coverage of the militants’ shooting of schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai.
Five journalists were killed in Pakistan in 2013 and more than 50 have died since the early 1990s. Most murders remain unresolved.
The funeral of the murdered vice-president of Pakistan’s PTI party, Zahra Shahid Hussain, has been held at a mosque in the country’s capital, Karachi.
Zahra Shahid Hussain was shot dead outside her home in Karachi by gunmen on a motorcycle.
PTI leader Imran Khan has blamed one of his political rivals for the killing.
On his Twitter feed, Imran Khan said he was holding the leader of Karachi’s dominant MQM party, Altaf Hussain, responsible for her death – a claim the MQM has strongly denied.
It came as Karachi voted in a partial re-run of Pakistan’s general election.
Police are investigating whether Zahra Shahid Hussain’s killing was the result of an attempted robbery or a politically motivated murder.
Doctors at Karachi’s Jinnah Hospital havesaid their initial examination showed two bullet marks on her body. A full post-mortem report is expected to be released.
Imran Khan, a former captain of Pakistan’s cricket team, said Altaf Hussain, who is in self-imposed exile in London, had “openly threatened PTI workers and leaders through public broadcasts”.
He said he was also holding the British government responsible, as he said he had warned it about Altaf Hussain.
Imran Khan tweeted his accusations from his hospital bed, where he is recovering from a back injury sustained during a fall at an election rally in Lahore.
Last week, police in London confirmed they were investigating complaints that Altaf Hussain had broken UK laws by issuing threats in a speech he made the day after the vote.
In response to accusations of electoral fraud, he is alleged to have threatened his accusers with violence.
The funeral of the murdered vice-president of Pakistan’s PTI party, Zahra Shahid Hussain, has been held at a mosque in Karachi
Altaf Hussain and his supporters say that his remarks were taken out of context. He has lived in the UK since 1991, saying his life would be at risk if he returned to Pakistan.
MQM spokesman Mohammad Anwar said that Imran Khan’s comments were the “groundless, baseless” accusations of a man who had suffered a bitter, unexpected loss in the election.
He said there was only one reason that Imran Khan could have issued a statement of blame just minutes after the killing: “He is behind the murder. He is the mastermind.”
Last Sunday’s electoral re-run in Karachi was ordered after Imran Khan’s party accused the MQM of widespread vote-rigging and intimidation.
The MQM – which took most of the seats in Karachi – denies any irregularities and is boycotting the vote, which is taking place under tight security.
Voter turn-out appeared slow but steady.
The PTI is hoping to win the vote and make inroads in Pakistan’s commercial capital.
Whatever the outcome of the re-run, it will not overturn the overall result of last week’s vote, in which conservative leader Nawaz Sharif secured an unprecedented third term in power.
The MQM is seen as a perpetrator – as well as a victim – of violence in Karachi.
Since the 1980s, it has won every election it has contested there.
But it also stands widely accused of ruling Karachi by fear and through vote-rigging.
The general election on May 11 marked the first transition of power from one democratically elected government since the creation of the state of Pakistan in 1947.
However, the campaign was marred by violence in which about 150 people were killed across the country.
The MQM (Muttahida Qaumi Movement) is supported mainly by Muslim Urdu-speaking people whose families moved to Sindh province at the time of the partition of India in 1947.
Voting in Karachi on May 11 was disrupted by a bomb attack outside the office of the ANP party, in which 11 people were killed and more than 40 injured.
The bombing happened in the Landhi district of Karachi, where Taliban militants are known to be active.
Former cricketer Imran Khan, the leader of Pakistan’s PTI party, has blamed one of his political rivals for the killing of PTI vice-president Zahra Shahid Hussain.
Zahra Shahid Hussain was shot dead outside her home in Karachi by gunmen on a motorcycle.
On his Twitter feed, Imran Khan said he was holding the leader of Karachi’s dominant MQM party, Altaf Hussain, responsible for her death – a claim the MQM has strongly denied.
It comes as Karachi votes in a partial re-run of Pakistan’s general election.
Police say the motive for Zahra Shahid Hussain’s shooting is unclear.
Imran Khan said Altaf Hussain, who is in self-imposed exile in London, had “openly threatened PTI workers and leaders through public broadcasts”.
He said he was also holding the British government responsible, as he said he had warned them about Altaf Hussain.
Imran Khan tweeted his accusations from his hospital bed, where he is recovering from a back injury sustained during a fall at an election rally in Lahore.
Imran Khan said he was holding the leader of Karachi’s dominant MQM party, Altaf Hussain, responsible for Zahra Shahid Hussain’s death
Last week, police in London confirmed they were investigating complaints that Altaf Hussain had broken UK laws by issuing threats in a speech he made the day after the vote.
In response to accusations of electoral fraud, he is alleged to have threatened his accusers with violence.
Altaf Hussain says that his remarks were taken out of context.
He has lived in the UK since 1991, saying his life would be at risk if he returned to Pakistan.
Sunday’s electoral re-run in Karachi was ordered after Imran Khan’s party accused the MQM of widespread vote-rigging and intimidation.
The MQM – which took most of the seats in Karachi – denies any irregularities and is boycotting the vote.
Security is tight, and correspondents say tensions in Karachi are running high.
Whatever the outcome of the re-run, it will not overturn the result of last week’s vote, in which conservative leader Nawaz Sharif secured an unprecedented third term in power.
The MQM is seen as a perpetrator – as well as a victim – of violence in the city.
Since the 1980s, the MQM has won every election it has contested there.
But it also stands widely accused of ruling Karachi by fear and through vote-rigging.
The general election on May 11 marked the first transition of power from one democratically elected government since the creation of the state of Pakistan in 1947.
However, the campaign was marred by violence in which about 150 people were killed across the country.
Zahra Shahid Hussain was shot by gunmen on a motorcycle outside her home in Karachi’s upmarket Defence area, the family neighborhood of assassinated Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
The MQM (Muttahida Qaumi Movement) is supported mainly by Muslim Urdu-speaking people whose families moved to Sindh province at the time of the partition of India in 1947.
Voting in Karachi on May 11 was disrupted by a bomb attack outside the office of the ANP party, in which 11 people were killed and more than 40 injured.
The bombing happened in the Landhi district of Karachi, where Taliban militants are known to be active.
Senior Pakistani politician Zahra Shahid Hussain has been shot dead in the southern port city of Karachi.
Zahra Shahid Hussain was the senior vice-president of Pakistan’s Movement for Justice party (PTI), led by former international cricketer Imran Khan.
She was killed by gunmen on a motorcycle outside her home in the city’s upmarket Defence neighborhood.
Her murder comes on the eve of a highly-contested partial re-run of last Saturday’s general election.
The reason for the shooting is unclear.
Imran Khan has blamed the city’s dominant MQM party for her murder, a claim the party has denied.
Senior Pakistani politician Zahra Shahid Hussain has been shot dead in the southern port city of Karachi
Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, citing police, said the shooting happened during an attempted robbery.
Our correspondent says that reports of Zahra Shahid Hussain being shot twice in the head raise suspicions that it was a targeted killing made to look like a robbery.
Local PTI leader Firdous Shamim told AFP news agency that Zahra Shahid Hussain “was leaving her home for work when three gunmen attacked her. She thought they wanted to snatch her purse and handed it over to them but they killed her”.
Zahra Shahid Hussain was reportedly rushed to hospital but succumbed to her injuries on the way.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemned the murder, describing it as a “tragic incident”.
Sunday’s partial re-run of the vote in Karachi was ordered after Imran Khan’s party accused the MQM of widespread vote-rigging and intimidation.
The MQM – which took most of the seats in Karachi – denies any irregularities.
Karachi is torn by regular violence – much of it politically motivated.
Pakistan votes in landmark national and provincial elections.
The vote marks Pakistan’s first transition from one civilian government to another in its 66-year history.
However, the run-up to the election has been marred by violence in which more than 100 people have been killed.
A bomb blast in the port city of Karachi on Saturday morning left 10 people dead and 32 others wounded, a hospital official said.
Tens of thousands of troops are deployed at polling stations after the Pakistani Taliban threatened to carry out suicide attacks.
Hours before polls opened, Pakistan sealed its borders with Iran and Afghanistan in a bid to keep foreign militants at bay.
Officials said the borders would remain closed for the next three days.
Queues started forming before polling stations opened at 08:00 on Saturday.
At one polling station in the capital, Islamabad, more than 200 people waited patiently to vote.
Abdul Sattar, 74, said: “We want change, we are really fed up with old faces coming back to power every time and doing nothing for the nation.”
EU observers in the eastern city of Lahore said that voting there was going smoothly and without any interruptions.
In Peshawar there were long queues of women waiting to vote. Many are voting for the first time and are excited about being part of a historic change.
Polling stations will close at 17:00.
The Taliban on Friday warned voters to boycott polling stations in order to avoid attacks on the offices of political parties.
Long queues of women waiting to vote in Pakistan
The militants have been blamed for numerous attacks throughout the campaign on Pakistan’s three most prominent liberal parties.
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) along with the Karachi-based Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP) have been singled out for attacks by the Taliban.
As a result, the parties were forced to curtail their election campaigning.
Around two hours after polling started, a bomb attack was reported in Karachi, apparently targeting an ANP candidate outside the party’s political office.
Ten people were killed and 32 others were wounded, said an official at Jinnah Hospital. The local ANP candidate, Amanullah Mahsud, who was in the office at the time of the attack, was wounded but not seriously,
The attack happened in the Landhi area of Karachi, an industrial district known for Taliban activity. Another ANP candidate and his son were shot dead close to the area last week.
There were also reports of explosions in Peshawar in the north-west of the country and Quetta in the south-west. At least five people were hurt in Peshawar when a bomb went off attached to a motorcycle.
Militants have so far avoided targeting the campaigns of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of Nawaz Sharif and the Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice) party of Imran Khan.
Nawaz Sharif, who was deposed as prime minister in a military coup 14 years ago, is seen as favorite to return for a third term of office.
In a bid to clamp down on corruption, election officials say electoral rolls have been refreshed and a text messaging service will provide voting information to individuals.
In previous elections there have been accusations that candidates and some state institutions rigged the vote by setting up ghost polling stations and creating millions of fake voters on the electoral rolls.
However, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on Friday expressed “acute concern” about the manner in which the violence has “impaired the fairness of the elections almost beyond repair”.
It called on all institutions to “stretch themselves to their absolute limit to ensure security of voters, candidates and polling stations on Saturday so that the people can exercise their right to choose their representatives”.
The Taliban threat sparked a major security operation leading up to the vote.
More than 600,000 security and army personnel have been deployed to guard against possible attacks on polling day.
On Thursday, the son of former PM Yusuf Raza Gilani was abducted during a rally.
Opinion polls indicate there could be a record turnout, higher than the 44% in the last elections in 2008.
More than 200 people are now known to have died in a fire at a garment factory in Karachi, Pakistani police have said.
Many others were injured in the blaze. It began on Tuesday night, hours after a factory fire killed 23 in Lahore.
Correspondents say that the Karachi blaze is one of the worst industrial accidents in the country’s history.
Some 40 firefighting vehicles were needed to tackle it, officials said. Rescuers are still recovering bodies.
The cause of both fires are being investigated. Reports say that both may have been caused by faulty electricity generators.
Medical officials said victims in both fires mostly died of suffocation, while others were burned alive as the infernos took hold.
More than 200 people are now known to have died in a fire at a garment factory in Karachi
In Karachi, the building was still smouldering on Wednesday as rescuers pulled out the bodies of those who were killed. Officials said the number of dead had now risen to 212.
Karachi fire chief Ehtesham Salim said: “We found people who died because of suffocation caused by the highly toxic smoke. They died first and then their bodies were burned by the raging fire.”
Workers had little time to escape from the four-storey building – many could do so only by jumping from the windows. At least 65 employees are reported to have suffered from broken bones.
As the full horror of the blaze unfolded overnight, shouting and sobbing relatives of trapped workers scuffled with police as rescuers battled to save people still thought to be trapped in the building.
Chief Fire Officer Ehtishamud Deen said that his staff was trying to rescue about 20 people trapped in the basement and on the fourth floor.
Workers spoke of panic and confusion as the fire spread.
“It was terrible, suddenly the entire floor filled with fire and smoke and the heat was so intense that we rushed towards the windows, broke its steel grille and glass and jumped out,” Mohammad Saleem told AFP in hospital.
“I fell on the ground and it was extremely painful, I saw many people jumping out of windows and crying in pain for help,” he said.
Speaking at the scene, Karachi official Mohammad Hussain Syed said that the scale and severity of the fire made it difficult to find and identify the dead.
“Some bodies are completely charred and cannot be recognized,” he said.
“It is only possible [to identify them] through DNA tests. It was a big garment factory where lots of people were working. That’s why it is difficult to assess how many have come out safely and how many failed to escape and were trapped.”
“The condition of the building is very bad now.”
Bodies have been taken to several different hospitals, and police are still compiling a definitive list of casualties. Police said that they feared more bodies could be inside the building.
Firefighters said that the poorly ventilated factory had no fire exits or alternative means of escape and that most of the dead had been suffocated by toxic smoke.
Officials said windows at the factory were blocked with metal grilles and that it was crammed with combustible materials including piles of clothes and chemicals.
Firefighters on crane lifts are now trying to reach through windows of the gutted building to rescue trapped survivors, all suffering from burns and smoke inhalation.
The cause of the blaze was still being investigated, police said, but workers say it too may have been caused by a faulty generator.
Garments factories across Pakistan require their own power sources because of increasingly erratic national grid electricity supplies.
The industry is critical to Pakistan’s frail economy – according to central bank data, it provided 7.4% of Pakistan’s GDP in 2011 and employed 38% of the manufacturing sector workforce, accounting for 55.6% of total exports.
16 NATO supply tankers transporting fuel for US-led forces in Afghanistan were set ablaze in a bomb attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
28 trucks were parked at a terminal on the outskirts of the provincial capital Peshawar when an explosion triggered a fire that engulfed 16 of the vehicles, AFP reported.
16 NATO supply trucks set ablaze by Talibans in Pakistan
Pakistan police official, Khurshid Khan, said:
“We are trying to move away other oil tankers. We are not clear whether the bomb was planted in the terminal or with a tanker,”
“Sixteen tankers were completely destroyed.”
In addition, police official said that there were no reports of any casualties.
Mohammad Ijaz Khan, senior police officer in Peshawar, said three explosions were heard before the fire swept through the parked tankers and fire fighters were hardly trying to control the blaze.
Police cordoned off the area after the incident and launched a search operation to track down the attackers.
So far, no group has claimed the attack.
NATO convoys regularly attacked by Tehrik i Taliban Pakistan militants.
NATO and US military rely heavily on the Pakistani supply route into landlocked Afghanistan, more so now that Taliban attacks are increasing.
As a reaction to this incident, the Pakistani authorities have deployed several police contingents and military forces on all major roads in the area to prevent the new attacks.
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Recently, Taliban militants have carried out numerous attacks in the rugged tribal area, torching hundreds of NATO vehicles and containers destined for foreign troops in Afghanistan.
Supplies arrive by sea in the southern port city of Karachi, where security analysts believe most of the Afghan Taliban leadership are now hiding. From Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan, they have to travel in long, exposed convoys through a northwest province, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Using other routes, largely through Russia and the Central Asian states, have proved to be too costly, both economically and politically.
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