At least four people have died and 65 were injured, including several policemen, in riots in the town of Gilgit in the Northern Areas of North Pakistan, The News reported.
Gunfire broke out between the police and local Sunni Muslims during a demonstration against the arrest by police on March 28 of a local Sunni leader who was suspected of organizing an attack on local Shia Muslims last month.
Local Urdu-language TV station Dunya reported at least four deaths and 40 injured.
Inter-communal riots have also occurred between local Sunnis and Shias, in which at least 25 people were injured when a grenade was thrown into a group of Sunnis.
The military have taken control of the town and ordered a curfew.
Inter-communal riots are not unusual in Gilgit and the surrounding valleys, as the area is the border of Sunni, Shia and Ismaeli religious factions and also various different ethnic groups. The area was also the scene of armed violence in 1988 and 1992, in which the army was sent in to maintain order.
The Karakoram Highway to China runs close to Gilgit.
