Children killed in Pakistan explosion

At least eleven children have been killed and 26 others wounded in an explosion in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, police said. The blast took place in the impoverished Lyari neighbourhood of the city after a football match on Wednesday.“The bomb was planted on a motorbike that was parked outside the stadium,” senior police official Tariq Dharejo told AFP news agency. Dharejo said the bomb was a remote-controlled device. According to reports, the bomb targeted a member of the provincial assembly at the stadium, but he survived. Al Jazeera's Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Karachi, said: "Lyari is notorious for gang wars and this appears to be a localised crime in which criminal elements, who were against this politician, tried to target him." In other parts of the city, there were several explosions outside wine shops in four separate areas. Local politician Sania Naz from the Pakistan People's Party also confirmed the blast, saying that those killed were aged from six to 15 years old. Karachi, a city of 18 million people, contributes 42 percent of Pakistan's GDP but is rife with murder and kidnappings and has been plagued for years by ethnic, sectarian and political violence. Football is popular in the area, with people of all ages playing the game.