A suicide attack targeted an Ashoura procession in Pakistan overnight, killing 23 people and wounding 62 others, including eight children, as Muslim leaders gathered for a rare summit in Islamabad.

A suicide attack targeted an Ashoura procession in Pakistan overnight, killing 23 people and wounding 62 others, including eight children, as Muslim leaders gathered for a rare summit in Islamabad.

Police in the garrison city of Rawalpindi near the capital said the bomber blew himself up when he was stopped for a security check as Muslim faithful commemorated the martyrdom of Prophet Mohammad’s (as) grandson Imam Hussein (as) during the holy month of Muharram.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, another explosion that killed two people near a mosque in Karachi, and attacks targeting security forces in the northwest.

Spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP that “we carried out the attacks (on Wednesday) in Rawalpindi and Karachi because the Shiite community is engaged in defiling the Prophet.”

Pakistan is hosting a summit which includes Egypt, Iran and Turkey Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and Nigeria.

The summit is aimed at strengthening “Pakistan’s international standing and helping remove misconceptions (about the country) created in a section of international media", according to a Pakistani government statement.