Karachi put on suicide bombing alert

Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil said intelligence agencies feared the banned extremist Sunni Muslim group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, was planning suicide bomb attacks on Shia mosques.

"The police are on high alert and we have deployed extra force around mosques and Imambarghas (Shia Muslim mosques) in the city," Jamil told Reuters.

The militant group might use women as suicide bombers in possible attacks, police and paramilitary were also checking vehicles for explosives, Jamil said.

In May, more than 60 people, mostly Shia Muslims, were killed and 150 wounded in suicide attacks on Shia mosques in Karachi.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is one of the most feared of Pakistan's underground militant groups and has links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

The group has been implicated in attacks on Western targets in Karachi, including the kidnap and murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.