Islamabad: Army was deployed in Pakistan's volatile Sialkot town today (Oct 2, 2004) as thousands of angry Shiite mourners set afire the Mayor's office and a police station during the funerals of the 33 people killed in a mosque blast yesterday.

A nationwide alert was sounded amidst fears of suicide attacks on mosques, as the provincial Punjab Government announced Rs One crore reward for the identity of the militants responsible for yesterday's bomb blast in Imam Dargah in Sialkot.

Some of the 15,000 Shiites who poured into the streets beating their chests and crying, also burned a record room of a court in Sialkot and torched several vehicles parked at the police station. Troops are trying to control the situation.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao ordered a judicial inquiry into yesterday's bomb attack.

Sherpao also said over the state run PTV that nationwide alert has been sounded among the security agencies to reinforce security arrangements at mosques, specially around Shia mosques as some of them came under similar attacks in the past.

A heavy bomb reportedly carried by a suicide bomber exploded the midst of a 1000-strong prayer congregation yesterday, killing 33 persons and injuring around 70.

The town considered to be the most industrialised in the province witnessed retaliatory violence by angry Shia mourners yesterday also.

Stray incidents of violence by Shia community was also reported in Karachi today in protest against the attack.

Security officials view yesterday's attack with concern as it was the first time that a major sectarian attack took place in Punjab province, the biggest among Pakistan's four provinces.

Such attacks in Shia mosques have taken place in Karachi, capital of Sindh and Quetta, headquarter town of South West Baluchistan province but this was the first such incident in a Punjabi town.

Pakistan Government has banned extremist Sunni and Shia organisations as they indulged in a sectarian violence resulting in heavy bloodshed for the past several years.