Most of the outlawed militant groups are Sunni Muslims. Shiites make up some 15 percent of the overwhelmingly Sunni Pakistan, which has a population of around 150 million.
`Soft targets'
Analysts said the assailants in Pakistan and Iraq hit "soft targets," striking on a day when Shiites were celebrating "Ashura" or the 10th day of a holy period known as Muharram.
During Ashura Shiites take to the streets beating their chests and flogging themselves with steel flails in memory of Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Mohammad, killed and beheaded in Iraq some 1,300 years ago.
"Muharram processions are extremely vulnerable targets," Zehra said.
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