At least 15 killed in blast near Pakistan Red Mosque

Islamabad: At least 15 people were killed in an apparent suicide bomb attack near the Red Mosque in Islamabad on Sunday, police and officials said.

"It appears to have been a suicide bombing. More than 10 people were killed," said top city official Rana Akbar.

A witness said he saw at least seven dead policemen at the site of the blast.

Thousands of Islamists gathered in Islamabad to mark the one-year anniversary of a deadly military crackdown on the radical Red Mosque or Lal Masjid.

Attendees included clerics and Islamist students. Many wore red prayer caps in remembrance of Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the deputy cleric of the mosque who was killed in the operation.

Armed police manned roadblocks nearby and traffic was diverted. Many streets around the mosque were blocked off with barbed wire.