Islamabad: At least 41 people were today (Oct 7, 2004) killed and 100 others injured when two bombs ripped through a procession of the banned Sunni extremist organisation Sipha-e-Sehba in Multan city of Pakistan's Punjab province.

A car bomb blast was followed by the explosion of a device planted in a motorcycle in the early hours of today when a large number of people were returning from a Sunni congregation, district body official of Multan Pir Riaz Hussain Qureshi said.

State run PTV quoted doctors in Multan Government hospital as saying that 38 people were killed and 100 others injured. The condition of at least 50 of the wounded was stated to be serious.

The blasts resulted in the snapping of high tension overhead electricity cables, which caused a number of casualties, Deputy Inspector General of police Talat Mehmood Tariq told Geo TV.

The procession was returning from a gathering to commemorate the death anniversary of the Sipha-e-Sehba founder leader Azam Tariq who was gunned down near Islamabad last year. The congregation began last night and ended in the wee hours of today.

"The blast was caused by a remote controlled device and no suicide bomber was involved in the incident," he added.

The attack comes almost a week after a suicide attacker detonated a bomb inside a crowded Shia mosque in the eastern city of Sialkot, killing 31 people and injuring more than 50.

Suspecting it to be a sectarian attack, police has intensified patrolling in Multan city to prevent any attacks on the Shia community.

Peace committees were being formed to prevent any untoward incidents, officials said.

SSP was banned by President Pervez Musharraf along with Shia extremist outfit Terik-e-Jafriya in 2002.

The recent suicide bomb attacks in Silakot, Karachi and Quetta were blamed on SSP's armed outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which was also banned.