PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A fire broke out late Tuesday at a Shiite Muslim (search) mosque crowded with worshippers in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 13 people and injuring 48 others, officials said. The blaze was called accidental.
Eight women and five children were killed. Some died from burns while others fell to their deaths from a staircase in a stampede to escape the fire, Ahmed Khan Orakzai, a government administrator in Parachinar, said Wednesday. Most of the injured were women.
Parachinar is located about 180 miles west of the capital Islamabad (search).
The fire was apparently caused by an electrical short circuit on the upper floor of the mosque reserved for women in Parachinar, a town near the Afghan border, said Ali Hussain, a local Shiite leader.
The fire came hours after gunmen attacked religious procession of Shiites in Quetta (search) and then blew themselves up. Authorities said 42 people were killed and 160 wounded in the attack.
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