The shooting of a Shiite Muslim cleric set off sectarian clashes in a northern Pakistan town that left at least 11 people dead, including a family of six, burned alive in their home, officials and the state news agency said.
Authorities imposed a round-the-clock curfew and army troops patrolled Gilgit on Saturday to contain the violence, the second bout of unrest in six months between rival Shiites and Sunnis in this usually serene Himalayan tourist destination.
Residents outside Gilgit reported that roads into this remote town of 25,000 people had been blocked from as far as 50 kilometers (30 miles) away.
Police said that hundreds of Shiites and Sunnis had clashed, setting fire to shops and other buildings owned by members of the other sect, as well as government property.
The state Associated Press of Pakistan news agency reported that six members of one family were burned alive in their home. Geo television network said the head of the household was a government forestry official.
Jamil Ahmed, regional chief administrator, said 11 people were killed in all. He said a curfew was in place indefinitely and that army troops were patrolling the city.
APP reported that 10 other people were injured. The trouble started when unidentified gunmen shot and wounded a prominent local Shiite cleric, Agha Ziauddin, as he traveled through the city in a car. His private security guards fired back, killing at least one of the attackers. One of the guards was also killed.
It wasn't clear what motivated the attack on Ziauddin, who was hospitalized in stable condition.
Later, the local health chief, Sher Wali _ a Sunni _ was shot dead, Ahmed said.
Gilgit, a town set amid steep mountains, about 250 kilometers (150 miles) north of the capital, Islamabad, suffered sectarian unrest in June, when Shiites staged protests, demanding changes in Islamic textbooks used in state schools.
The protests spiraled into violence that claimed several lives. Authorities imposed a curfew for 13 days and had to airlift out some foreign tourists who were stranded in the city.
Although tensions had since eased, some schools have yet to reopen in the Gilgit area.
Pakistan has often been troubled by sectarian violence. About 80 percent of its 150 million people are Sunnis and 17 percent Shiites _ although Shiites are in a majority in Gilgit and some other mountainous northern areas. Most of the Muslims live together peacefully, but small groups of militants on both sides stage attacks.
The schism between Sunnis and Shiites dates back to the 7th century over who was the true heir to the Prophet Mohammed.
Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed condemned the killings in Gilgit saying they were "the work of terrorists and such people have no religion.''
Fearing the unrest could spread to other parts of the country, the Interior Ministry instructed authorities in each of Pakistan's four provinces to step up security for Muslim clerics and at places of worship, a ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
Pakistan, a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, has suffered a wave of attacks blamed on Islamic militants in recent years, sometimes targeting top government officials and Westerners, but more frequently hitting religious targets.
In October, a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque killed 31 people in the eastern city of Sialkot.
Six days later, a car bombing at a gathering of Sunni radicals in central Multan city killed 40 people.