ISLAMABAD: The United States Mission in Pakistan Friday strongly condemned the attack on innocent people today at an Imambargah (a Shiite mosque) in Shikarpur.

“On the behalf of US government and its people, we extends our deepest sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims,” a handout issued here by the US Embassy said.

The statement further said the US was standing in solidarity with the people and government of Pakistan in confronting this type of extremist sectarian violence.

“The US supports the right of every person to practice their religion without fear of intimidation, death, coercion, or any form of reprisal – this is a basic human right, both in Pakistan and throughout the world”, the statement added.

A powerful bomb tore through a busy Shiite mosque in southern Pakistan on Friday, killing 60 people in the country's deadliest sectarian attack in nearly two years.

The blast hit the mosque in Shikarpur in Sindh province, around 470 kilometres (300 miles) north of Karachi, as hundreds of worshippers attended Friday prayers.

Pakistan has suffered a rising tide of sectarian violence in recent years, most of it perpetrated by hardline Sunni Muslim groups against minority Shiite Muslims, who make up around one in five of the population.

Sindh health minister Jam Mehtab Daher told AFP that "the death toll from the attack has increased to 60".