Two bombs exploded at a religious gathering in Pakistan early Thursday, killing at least 39 people and injuring over 100, police.(Xinhua/AFP Photo)

(Xinhua/AFP Photo)

(Xinhua/AFP Photo)

    ISLAMABAD, Oct. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Two bombs exploded at a religious gathering in Pakistan's central city of Multan early Thursday, killing at least 39 people and injuring over 100, police and doctors said.

    Police chief in Multan Talat Mehmood Tariq said some 1,700 to 1,800 Sunni Muslims gathered on Wednesday night in Multan's Rashidabad neighborhood to mark the first anniversary of the killing of their leader Maulana Azam Tariq.

    Azam Tariq was head of the outlawed Sunni extremist group Millat-e-Islamia, formally known as Sipah-e-Sahaba, and also a member of the National Assembly (lower house of parliament). He was killed with his driver and two body guards by unidentified gunmen in the outskirts of Islamabad last year.

    The police chief said a car bomb was detonated around 5 o'clock(0:00 GMT) on Thursday through remote control when the gathering began to disperse. He said some six to seven kilograms of explosives were thought to be used in the blast.

    Dr Arif Saeed, medical superintendent in Nishtar Hospital in Multan confirmed the death of 39 people.

    About 100 injured were brought to hospitals and half of them were discharged after first aid while the others were admitted, said Saeed, adding some of the injured were in critical condition.     

    Emergency has been declared in government and private hospitals to treat the injured.

    Earlier, the police said the blast could be the handiwork of a suicide bomber but later they said they did not find parts of anybody in the car.

    Pir Riaz Hussain Qureshi, mayor of Multan District, said the explosive device was a timer and that there was only one blast, not two.

    About 2,000 people demonstrated outside Nishtar Hospital soon after the blast and chanted slogans against the rival group and the government.

    The army has been called out to start patrolling in the city tocheck any possible reaction and riots.

    Information and Broadcasting Minister Sheikh Rashid condemned the blast, saying "It is a brutal act of terrorism aimed at creating instability in the country."

    Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told a private TV channel that the federal government had issued instructions to the provincial governments for taking security measures following a suicide bomb attack last week in the eastern city of Sialkot.

    "There was no need to allow the gathering in the wake of the tense situation following the Sialkot attack," he said.

    No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Extremist rival groups usually blame each other for such attacks.

    Thursday's blasts took place just six days after a suicide bomb attack inside a crowded Shiite mosque in Sialkot on Oct. 1, killing 31 people and injuring more than 50. Enditem