ISLAMABAD, March 4 (Reuters) - Twelve people including two policemen were killed and five wounded by masked gunmen in the Pakistani town of Sheikhupura on Sunday, in what police said appeared to be sectarian violence.
At least four people were detained by the police.
Police said the gunmen on motorcycles had sprayed fire at a Shi'ite Muslim place of worship, a central market and a grains market in Sheikhupura, in Punjab province, some 140 km (90 miles) southeast of Islamabad.
Witnesses said most of the 12 dead were Shi'ite Muslims, but the identity of all the casualties was not immediately known.
Police said at least six gunmen had been seen to take part in the shootings, which created panic in the entire town. The two policemen were killed while in pursuit of the attackers.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which appeared to be part of a spate of sectarian killings by militants from the majority Sunni and minority Shi'ite sects in Pakistan in recent months.
Eight people were killed on Thursday in gun battles between the rival sects in the town of Hangu, in the North West Frontier province.
The day before, a Sunni Muslim activist, Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, had been hanged in Punjab for the murder of an Iranian official in 1990.
05:48 03-04-01
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