Pakistan evacuates foreigners after sectarian violence

Among those evacuated from Gilgit -- where a prominent Shia religious leader was to be buried Friday following a fatal ambush -- are 14 South Koreans, five Chinese, one Japanese and 16 Afghans, a local official told AFP.

The authorities have also shifted 70 Chinese construction engineers and workers from the construction site of a hydro-electric project near Gilgit to a safer location, he said.

"We are not forcing the foreigners to leave the area, those who have decided to stay on are being provided security," he added.

Gilgit, the gateway town to the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges, has been under a shoot-on-sight curfew since the violence in which 17 people died broke out on Saturday.

Cleric Agha Ziauddin died in hospital on Thursday and his body was due to be flown back to Gilgit on Friday amid tight security.