21.   In August last year the government banned two underground militant organisations, the Sunni sect Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Shiite sect Sipah-e-Mohammad.

22.   A Shiite sect leader, Zulfiqar Ali Naqvi, and four others were gunned down by unidentified assailants who ambushed their vehicle here Tuesday, police said.

23.   Clashes between militants of the majority Sunni Moslems and minority Shiite sect have also claimed dozens of lives.

24.   During the inquiry, police had also detained activists involved in printing provocative material to instigate violence between the majority Sunni and minority Shiite sects of Moslems.

25.   Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and SSP have long been accused of carrying out massacres of followers of the minority Shiite sect.

26.   Other Iranian leaders have said the aim of the Mashhad bombing was to sour relations between the Moslem Sunni and Shiite sects.

27.   Police suspect the two attacks were motivated by religious rivalry between militants of the majority Sunni and minority Shiite sects of Islam.

28.   Security forces are on high alert across the country in the wake of an escalation in killings of members of the minority Shiite sect and rival Sunni militants.

29.   The Afghan-based rebels are Sunnite Moslems while those across the border are Ismailis, a moderate Shiite sect.

30.   The Afghan-based rebels are Sunnite Moslems, while those across the border are Ismailis, a moderate Shiite sect.