KARACHI, Sept 19: A man was killed and at least 12 people were injured in an attack on an Imambargah in the Quaidabad area here on Thursday night, according to police and hospital officials.

The DIG of East Zone, Munir Sheikh, said that it was a grenade attack which killed one and injured 16.

A spokesperson for Majlis-i-Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) told Dawn that people had just finished their prayers when the grenade was thrown from outside.

The dead and injured were taken to the Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC).

The deceased was identified as Zakir Hussain, 35.

“We received 17 injured, including three children, and one dead,” said Dr Seemin Jamali, the head of JPMC’s emergency department.

The condition of a 50-year old unidentified person and one identified as Saeed Gopang were critical, she added.

Dr Jamali said all the injured had been shifted to private hospitals after first aid.

Meanwhile, MWM general secretary Allama Nasir Abbas Jafferi said that members of the Shia community were being targeted because the government and security agencies were ‘patronising’ the banned outfits.