Bike bomb kills 13 Biharis

KARACHI (AFP) - At least 13 people were killed and 25 injured when a bomb exploded in a Bihari settlement in Kotri, 90 miles north of Karachi. The blast coincided with the arrival in Pakistan of a first batch of 323 Biharis from Bangladesh, where they had been stranded since that country's independence in 1971. There are about 238,000 Pakistanis in Bangladesh.

Police said they suspected the motor-cycle bomb was planted by militants of the Jiya Sindh nationalist party, who oppose the settlement of any more Biharis in Pakistan's southern province. Eye-witnesses said the bomb went off a few minutes after an unidentified man parked the bike outside a restaurant.