Pakistan rules out al-Qaeda hand

Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil said the attack was probably sectarian, referring to rivalry between extremists in the majority Sunni and minority Shia Muslim sects.

"Why would al-Qaeda kill religious elements? Even to create terror in the city, al-Qaeda will no| target religio}s students," he told AFP.

"The main possibility on which we are working is sectarianism."

Two bombs exploded in a roadside restaurant near the Jamia Binoria religious school in Karachi's industrial district late Sunday in which at least six students of the government-funded madrassah (seminary) were killed and 30 others wounded.

A six-year-old child, believed to be a passerby, was also killed while the body of the eighth victim was yet to be identified, police said.

Several students of the Sunni sect madrassah rushed out of the restaurant soon after a bomb went off. Minutes later a second bomb exploded as a crowd gathered.