Blast in Karachi; Pakistani police checking cause

KARACHI, 14 July (Reuters) Pakistani police said they were checking the cause of an explosion in a residential district of Karachi today and had no details of casualties.

The explosion took place near the house of a leading Shi'ite cleric in Abbas Town, police said.

''There is a report of blast near the house of Allama Hasan Turabi. We are getting details,'' Jehangir Mirza, police chief of Sindh province, told Reuters.

The southern city of Karachi has been the scene of bloody rivalry between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims since the 1980s.

REUTERS PKS PM1740