Franco Origlia / Getty Images Contributor

Pope Francis waves to the crowd as he leaves at the end of the Holy Mass and Canonization Ceremony at St. Peter's Square. Sunday.

Editor's note: This story includes a correction.

ROME -- Pope Francis canonized more than 800 Catholics in Saint Peter’s Square Sunday – the largest number to be elevated to sainthood at once in the history of the Catholic Church.

The choice of some of the new saints was also striking, touching on the already-fragile relationship between Christianity and Islam.

The new saints included hundreds of laymen from the southern Italian port town of Otranto who were slain in the 15th century by the invading Ottoman Turkish army after they refused to convert to Islam.

In 1480, after conquering Constantinople – modern day Istanbul - the Ottoman Sultan Mohammed II planned to invade Rome, and Otranto became his army’s port of entrance into Italy.

The local population fought back in a week-long siege, putting up a brave but hopeless resistance. When Ottoman soldiers finally overrun the town, they were ordered to kill every man over the age of 15 who refused to convert to Islam.

More than 800 resisted, locking themselves up into the town’s Cathedral. Their ringleader, local shoemaker Antonio Primaldo, was first to be beheaded. According  to local legend, his headless body remained standing until the last of his fellow townspeople was killed.

Since then, Primaldo and his townsfolk, who chose to die rather than betray their Catholic faith, have been hailed as martyrs. Their bones and skulls – proudly on display behind glass walls in the Cathedral of Otranto – are well-known Catholic relics and a popular pilgrimage destination.

But the choice to highlight their sacrifice may put a strain on the already fragile relationship between the Catholic Church and Islam.

Ever since his election, Pope Francis has called for greater dialogue between Christianity and other religions, in particular Islam. And so far, he has acted on that promise. He washed the feet of a young Muslim woman jailed in a juvenile prison on Holy Thursday, and reached out to the many “Muslim brothers and sisters” during his first Good Friday procession.

So why risk creating yet another inter-faith row with a celebration which some in the Muslim world may be seen as a provocation?

The answer is that it wasn’t Pope Francis’ choice in the first place. The decision to canonize the hundreds of Otranto martyrs was rubber-stamped by his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, on Feb. 11 - the same day he announced his resignation.

Slideshow: The election of Pope Francis

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Cardinals from around the world gathered in the Vatican to elect the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

Launch slideshow

It was a departing act of a pontiff that had become concerned about the mounting discrimination suffered by Christian minorities living in the Middle East in the wake of the Arab spring.

Pope Francis shares his predecessor’s concern. “By venerating the martyrs of Otranto” he said at Sunday’s canonization mass, “We ask God to protect the many Christians who in these times, and in many parts of the world, are still victims of violence”.

The Vatican’s relationship with Islam took a nosedive in 2006 when Benedict – now the Pope Emeritus - enraged Muslims by quoting the 14^th-century byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiogolos, who said: “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

It was an uncomfortable parting gift for his successor, who now faces an uphill struggle to rekindle ties with Islam.

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Saudi Arabia's Wojdan Shaherkani (top) competes in the London 2012 Olympic Games

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Girls in Saudi Arabia are to be allowed to take part in school sports for the first time in the latest sign that the Islamic kingdom is inching forward on the contentious issue of women’s rights.

Female students enrolled in private girls’ schools will be able to take part as long as they wear ‘decent clothing’ and are supervised by female Saudi instructors within the tight regulations of the country’s Ministry of Education, the official Saudi Press Agency announced Sunday.

“I think it’s a really good idea,” said Hala Tashkandi, a junior student of Applied Linguistics at Prince Sultan University, a private college in the capital, Riyadh. “Physical education for girls is sorely lacking, which is a shame because some of the best athletes I know are female.”

However, most girls are educated in public schools where the rules forbidding female competitive sports will not be relaxed.

It means school sport will remain restricted to members of the wealthy elite, despite the country’s need for more female athletes. Last year, the country's first two female Olympians took part in the London games following pressure from the International Olympic Committee which signaled at the Beijing 2008 games that it would no longer allow countries to restrict entry on the basis of gender.

Sarah Attar competed in the women’s 800m race, while Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shaherkani took part in judo after a deal was reached with officials allowing her to wear her hijab.

Saudi women are barred from driving and must seek the permission of a male "guardian", usually a father, husband or brother, to marry, travel abroad, open a bank account, work or have some forms of elective surgery.

Until recently, it seemed Saudi Arabia’s vocal minority of zealots were winning the ideological battle and sustaining the marginalization of women, but recent announcements suggest the tide may finally be turning.

Streeter Lecka / Getty Images

Sarah Attar of Saudi Arabia competes in the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Last week, a campaign featuring domestic abuse was launched to raise awareness in a country where such subjects are still considered largely taboo.

In January, the country’s reform-minded monarch, King Abdallah, appointed 30 women to the Shura Council despite a huge backlashfrom the religious establishment and comments on twitter and local blogs that branded them “infidels” and women of “loose character.”

Manal Sanai a final year student at Najd, a private girls’ school in central Riyadh, said she was excited by news about school sports. “Most girls don’t know their potential in sports because of the lack of exposure to any kind of physical activity and this will be a good chance to develop their talents,” she said.

Sports and activities such as dancing do take place, but only in private clubs with membership fees of upwards of $2,000 a year and can still be raided by the Mutawwa – or religious police.

Afaf Al Hamdan, the former manager of the Al Manahil Center for Women, which runs several physical educational programs catering to the city’s wealthy elite, questioned why sport would not be extended to public schools.

“The big bulk of students are in government schools and don’t have the means to pay for private clubs,” she said. “If these classes are run in a female environment with students dressed properly, then there is nothing against Sharia [law].

“All women in this country, unlike those of my generation who had never even heard of exercise, should have access to the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.”

That sentiment was echoed by Tashkandi, who pointed out that the Olympians Shaherkhani and Attar were only given two weeks to train because of wrangles over their participation.

“There’s so much potential and it could be incredibly helpful in terms of their physical and mental health as well,” she said.

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2013 Getty Images

A view of Makhachkala, where suspected Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev spent time, on April 25.

MAKHACHKALA, Russia — This dusty capital of Dagestan, Russia’s southernmost republic in the North Caucasus region, was home briefly last year to one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the 26-year-old alleged mastermind behind the Boston attacks, spent six months in the Russian Federation in 2012. At least half of that time he was in Dagestan, visiting his father Aznor Tsarnaev, who had moved back from the U.S. a year earlier. Investigators are trying to retrace the younger Tsarnaev’s footsteps and determine whether he met any Islamic militants during his stay.

His father maintains his son's innocence and said he only met relatives while he was there. He said his son was so taken with the place that he began talking about moving to Dagestan. In an interview with NBC News earlier this week, Aznor said his son "felt he belonged" there.

Adrienne Mong / NBC News

The beach in Makhachkala, Russia, the port city in Dagestan Tsarnaev spent several months in 2012. Its economy is growing rapidly and corruption is rife.

Tough town
A port city that dots the western edge of the Caspian Sea, Makhachkala is surrounded by low-lying mountains on its other sides. (Dagestan means “land of mountains.”)

The beaches reflect none of the glossy luster of Black Sea resorts; speed bumps seem to outnumber traffic lights; Residents and hotel guests complain about long periods of water shortages.

Nonetheless, the capital is enjoying robust economic growth. Construction sites are everywhere and new hotels are being built. Shops are full of well-known western brands, including Apple’s iPhones. Cafés are teeming with young people and families.

But life is not easy in this North Caucasus town. Take the mayor, for instance.

Said Amirov has survived 15 assassination attempts since the 1990s; one of them put him in a wheelchair. He refuses to be photographed in it, wanting to project an image of power and authority in a culture obsessed with male athleticism and physical prowess (wrestling and soccer are the most popular sports).

Though named the Best Mayor of Russia 2012, Amirov is an emblem of corruption, according to one local journalist. When asked about corruption during a press briefing this week about the Boston bombing suspects, Amirov dismissed the topic: “Corruption exists everywhere.”

However, local residents say corruption is particularly rampant in Dagestan.

“If you have money, you can get anything done,” said a former policeman, who quit his job because he couldn’t stomach the corruption in the local police force.

In a town that features a clothing shop called “Tony Montana” – named after the Cuban gangster played by Al Pacino in “Scarface” – men swagger in leather jackets and sweatpants. Police checkpoints dot the main roads and semiautomatic weapons are on plentiful display.

The majority of women wear hijabs and long skirts, but it’s not unusual to see women with uncovered hair, three-inch Louboutin heels and tiny skirts.

With a population of half a million, the capital is also a cultural crossroads. Dagestan is Russia’s most ethnically diverse republic with more than 30 ethnic groups.

Sectarian strife
Apart from geography, Islam is the other tie that binds so many diverse groups. Arab conquerors introduced the religion to Dagestan in the seventh century, making it the oldest Islamic republic in the Russian Federation. Dagestan has between 1,800 to 2,000 mosques, according to official Russian government reports, more than neighboring Chechnya or Ingushetia.

During Friday prayers, hundreds of men streamed toward the white multidomed Central Mosque, the largest in Makhachkala. As they prayed, heavily armed men – some dressed in camouflage, some in civilian clothes – ringed the edge of the mosque grounds.

It is the perfect snapshot of the strife surrounding Islam in Dagestan.

Adrienne Mong / NBC News

The Central Mosque in Makhachkala. Dagestan is the oldest Islamic republic in Russia.

In 1999, Chechen rebels invaded, marking the beginning of the second Chechen war. The arrival of Chechen fighters in Dagestan deepened sectarian rifts between Sufis (those who mix Islam with local customs) and Salafis (ultra-conservative Sunni Muslims who believe they are practicing a “pure” form of Islam and adhere strictly to Shariah law).

As terrorist attacks spread throughout Dagestan – now considered more volatile than Chechnya – Russia’s security forces have cracked down further on dissidents and suspected militants, fueling violence, tension and fear.

“As soon as we began preaching Salafism, the government began targeting us,” said Gadzhi Mohamed, who helps run a local Islamic civil rights organization called “Akhlusuna.” In fact, “as soon as someone says ‘pure Islam,’ they become an enemy of the people, created by the state.”

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A young Saudi man faces being forcibly paralyzed as a punishment under Islamic sharia law for a crime that left his victim confined to a wheelchair – a ruling condemned by a human rights group Thursday.

Ali al-Khawaher, 24, was convicted of stabbing a childhood friend in the spine during a dispute a decade ago, according to reports in Saudi Arabian media including Al Hayat and Al Watan (link in Arabic).

Under sharia law, courts may set an eye-for-an-eye punishment for crimes – but victims may pardon convicts in exchange for so-called blood money.

In this case, the victim requested $533,000 – an amount he later reduced to $266,000 – but al-Khawaher’s mother told Al Hayat she did not have even a fraction of this money, meaning the court can issue an order for retribution instead.

Although the stabbing happened in 2003, the court order was only issued on Saturday.

“Ten years have passed with hundreds of sleepless nights,” Al Hayat quoted al-Khawaher's mother as saying. “My hair has become grey at a young age because of my son’s problem. I have been frightened to death whenever I think about my son’s fate and that he will have to be paralyzed.”

Amnesty International condemned the punishment.

“Paralyzing someone as punishment for a crime would be torture,” said Ann Harrison, the organization’s Middle East and North Africa deputy director.

“That such a punishment might be implemented is utterly shocking, even in a context where flogging is frequently imposed as a punishment for some offences, as happens in Saudi Arabia," she added. “It is time the authorities in Saudi Arabia start respecting their international legal obligations and remove these terrible punishments from the law.”

Saudi judges have in the past ordered sharia punishments that include tooth extraction, flogging, eye gouging and -- in murder cases -- death, Reuters reported.

U.K. Islamic commentator Ajmal Masroor told the U.K.'s Sky News channel that even most Muslims would be “startled” by the court ruling, adding: "I cannot fathom where they would find a doctor willing to carry out such an act."

NBC News' Lubna Hussain contributed to this report.

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Lego

Birol Kilic, chairman of the Turkish Cultural Association of Austria, says the Lego play set modeled on the Jabba The Hutt alien's fictional home was culturally insensitive.

MUNICH – Danish toy maker Lego plans to stop selling a model of the “palace” of slug-like Star Wars character Jabba The Hutt after complaints that it resembles a revered mosque, according to a group that raised the grievance.

Birol Kilic, chairman of the Turkish Cultural Association of Austria, said Monday the play set modeled on the obese alien’s fictional home was culturally insensitive.

Photo by Julian Finney / Getty Images

Birol Kilic, chairman of the Turkish Cultural Association of Austria, said the Lego version of Jabba The Hutt's palace resembles Istanbul's Hagia Sophia, a historic mosque that became a model for other centers of Islam and is now a museum.

“This does not belong in children’s bedrooms,” he said. “And the minaret-like tower features machine guns. Children will become insensitive to violence and other cultures.”

After a meeting between his organization and the company last week in Munich, Germany, Lego promised to stop selling the play set, Kilic said.

Lego posted on Twitter Monday that it has always intended to stop selling the item at the end of the year. “We only keep a product in the assortment for a few years and it was scheduled to exit in 2013 from launch,” the tweet said.

However, there was no mention of those original plans in a January press release which said: “The LEGO Group regrets that the product has caused the members of the Turkish cultural community to interpret it wrongly.”

Roar Trangbæk, a Lego spokesman, on Monday denied that the group had anything to do with their decision.

“The decision to terminate this particular product is not based on any dialogue with the mentioned community," Trangbæk said. "We regret the misinterpretation but we fully stand behind the product.”

Trangbæk also said that it is the company's policy not to design models that depict religious structures. 

The Danish toy giant has in recent years made building sets modeled on hit movies including Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and Star Wars.

In the 1983 science-fiction blockbuster “Return of the Jedi”, Jabba uses Princess Leia as his slave at the palace.

Lego

Birol Kilic, chairman of the Turkish Cultural Association of Austria, says the Lego play set modeled on the Jabba the Hutt alien's fictional home was culturally insensitive.

Kilic believed that the Lego version, aimed at 9- to 14-year-olds, resembles Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia, a historic mosque that became a model for other centers of Islam and is now a museum in the Turkish city.

Kilic said his organization was notified of the issue by an outraged Austrian father, whose sister had given the Lego set to his son last Christmas. The father returned the toy to the store, Kilic said, and the Turkish Cultural Association petitioned Lego to drop the play set from its line-up.

Kilic said the issue was not merely cultural, but also a reminder that parents should be more thoughtful about what toys their kids play with.

“We’re not the Taliban of Vienna,” he said of his independent, Vienna-based organization with about 700 members, “but we do give thought to our country and our continent.”

This story was originally published on Mon Apr 1, 2013 10:44 AM EDT

Amr Nabil / AP

A bodyguard protects popular Egyptian television satirist Bassem Youssef, who has come to be known as Egypt's Jon Stewart.

Bassem Youssef, a Egyptian satirist, has turned himself in after the country’s prosecutor-general issued an arrest warrant over allegations he insulted the president and Islam.

Youssef, known as Egypt’s version of “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, was released after questioning on a bail of $2,200, an official in the prosecutor's office told Reuters on Sunday.

The comedian is accused, among other things, of undermining the standing of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, Reuters said.

The questioning of the comedian has raised fears over freedom expression in the post-Mubarak Egypt.

The prosecutor general issued the arrest warrant after at least four legal complaints filed by Mursi supporters, the BBC reported.

"It is an escalation in an attempt to restrict space for critical expression," said Heba Morayef, Egypt director at Human Rights Watch told Reuters.

Youssef's questioning came after the prosecutor general issued five arrest warrants for prominent political activists accused of inciting violence against the Muslim Brotherhood, the group that propelled Mursi to power in last year's election.

“The dilemma of Egypt’s new rulers is that they came to power as a result of a radical change in the country, but they refuse to accept other results of this change,” wrote Abdullah Kamal, an Egyptian analyst, on the website of news channel Al-Arabiya.

During a telephone interview with popular television anchor Lamees El-Hadidy on Saturday night, Youssef rejected the accusation that he had insulted Islam, the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph reported.

"If there is anyone who has insulted religion it is those who use Islam as a weapon for political reasons," he said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Angelo Carconi / AP

Pope Francis is driven through the crowd in in St. Peter's Square for his inaugural Mass at the Vatican on Tuesday, Mar. 19, 2013. Francis took his name from Francis of Assisi, who was known for his concern for the poor and downtrodden, and for a 13th century encounter with the Sultan of Egypt.

Catholics and Muslims have come a long way since the Crusades, but during the tenure of Pope Benedict XVI, relations between the world’s two largest religions hit the skids.

So it was with relief and renewed optimism that prominent Muslims and interfaith advocates cheered the newly anointed Pope Francis.

"We are hoping for better relations with the Vatican after the election of the new pope," Mahmud Azab, adviser for inter-faith affairs at Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning in Cairo, told AFP. "We congratulate the Church of St. Peter and all Catholics around the world."

From the start, Benedict put less energy in reaching out to other religions than his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, who blazed the trail for Catholic relations with Muslims and other religions through his tireless travels and scores of meetings and prayer with imams around the world.

Under John Paul, the Vatican launched the World Day of Prayer for Peace in 1986, which was at first a hard sell for prominent Muslims, said Father Thomas Michel, who has a PhD in Islamic studies and headed John Paul’s office for Islam for 13 years.

"By the second one [World Day of Prayer for Peace in 1993] Muslims could see he didn’t have any other agenda — that he wasn’t going to get them all together and convince them to become Christians," said Michel, now a professor of Christian-Muslim relations at Georgetown University.

"By the time of the third, in 2002, there were so many leaders of Muslims organizations there wasn’t room for them on the podium… I don’t think Muslims changed so much, but what changed was the level of trust."

Mohammed brought 'evil and inhuman'
But when Benedict gave a controversial speech at the University of Regensburg in Germany in 2006 — a little more than a year after his installation as pope — he sparked fury across the Muslim world by quoting a Byzantine Emperor as saying, "show me just what Mohammed brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman."

Channi Anand / AP file

Muslim protestors rally in Jammu, India on Sept. 15, 2006 after Pope Benedict XVI made a controversial speech at the University of Regensburg in Germany.

In response to the pope's comments — though some argued they had been misunderstood — 138 leading Muslim scholars from around the world signed an open letter of protest to Benedict. In some countries there were protests and attacks on churches.

"It was a very strained period of the relationship," said John Esposito, professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University.

The Vatican took measures to patch up the fallout from Regensburg speech — which Vatican officials reportedly called "the accident." 

They held formal meetings with the Muslim leaders who had launched a "common word" initiative emphasizing the shared principles at the core of Christian and Islamic scriptures.

In October 2006, Benedict traveled to Turkey, making a symbolic visit to the ornate Blue Mosque in Instanbul where he emphasized his desire for reconciliation between Muslims and Christians.

And in 2009, Benedict traveled to Jordan and visited the site where Jesus was baptized, emphasizing the "common history" of Christianity and Islam. Even so, he stopped short of praying with his Muslim hosts in a mosque, or taking his shoes off to enter the prayer hall.

Dialogue resumed, but the relationship remained cool.

There are some early signs that Pope Francis could pick up where Pope John Paul II left off.

Reports from Argentina citing local Muslim leaders suggest that Francis — formerly Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires — was a friend to the Muslim community.

One report out of the country said that in 2006 Bergoglio spoke out against the Regensburg speech, according to the Daily Telegraph of London.

Quick response to Francis
"Pope Benedict's statements don't reflect my own opinions," he said in a local press interview, according to the report. "These statements will serve to destroy in 20 seconds the careful construction of a relationship with Islam that Pope John Paul II built over the last twenty years."

That report has not been confirmed by NBC News.

But a lot of Muslim optimism about Francis is based simply on hunches about his character.

The initial impression of the pope — as a man who values simplicity, openness, and the ability to connect with all people — is appealing to Muslims, said Esposito.

Slideshow: The election of Pope Francis

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Cardinals from around the world gathered in the Vatican to elect the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

Launch slideshow

For the new pope’s installation ceremony, he noted: "They went out of their way to talk about how people of all major faiths are invited. From the other side, it’s interesting to see how quick Muslims were… to say how they look forward to working with him."

He referred to public statements issued by prominent imams as well as larger Muslim civil rights groups including the Council on American Islamic Relations and the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

Michel saw the same optimism about Pope Francis in a flood of email from Muslims.

"They are so happy and looking forward to working with him," he said. "He’s coming in as every pope does with a real fund of good will and they are really hoping that he will be someone he can work with."

Building trust and influence
If Francis establishes a relationship of trust with Muslims, it could have impact beyond just warm and fuzzy feelings, some observers believe.

A pope with a new approach could be important in a Muslim-majority country like Pakistan, where minority Christians -- most of them Catholics -- suffer persecution, says Jeff Siddique, a Muslim-American in Seattle who was born in Pakistan.

"If (Pope Francis) can build a relationship with the leadership in Pakistan, he may be able to convince them that protecting the Christians in Pakistan is a good thing to do," he said.

Likewise, he may be able to restart discussions with Al-Azhar University in Egypt, which cut off dialogue with the Vatican in 2011 after Benedict called for greater protections for non-Muslims after a suicide bomber attacked a church in Egypt, killing 23 people. Al-Azhar cut ties over what it said was Benedict’s "repeated treatment of Islam in a negative way."

To have an influence across religions requires a foundation of trust, said Michel.

"When they trust each other they can speak freely," he said. "If people come on as scolds or know-it-alls, they get their backs up and won’t accept it."

For some seeking clues about the pontiff’s position on Christian-Muslim relations, his choice of Francis — after Francis of Assisi — has significance beyond his emphasis on simplicity and concern for the poor and downtrodden.

A 13th century story describes how St. Francis left the camp of the crusaders who were attacking the walled Egyptian city of Damietta, and dared to cross enemy lines to meet with Malik al-Kamil, the sultan of Egypt. He risked being killed, but instead, he had a fruitful conversation with the Muslim leader and left unharmed.

The encounter is played up in newer biographies as a pivotal moment of engagement between the two religions.

"We’re seeing the church interpret Francis in modern times as a bridge," said Paul Moses, author of "The Saint and the Sultan," a 2009 book which explores the encounter. "To Muslims ears, the choice of Francis for a name should sound good," he told Religion News Service.

Did Francis choose this name as an overture to Muslims?

"I’d say that it’s pushing it to say this was a factor," said Michel. Nonetheless, he said other signs favor improving ties — from both sides of the divide.

"I get the feeling of 'let's start over, let's start a new chapter. The last one was bumpy'."

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Mohammed Ameen / Reuters

Iraqis examine damage inflicted on their house by a car-bomb attack in the Al-Mashtal district of Baghdad Tuesday. Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility and warned of more attacks to come.

BAGHDAD - Al Qaeda in Iraq has claimed responsibility for a wave of bombings and suicide attacks on Tuesday that killed around 60 people on the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion.

Islamic State of Iraq, the country's al Qaeda wing, is regaining strength, invigorated by the Sunni Muslim rebellion in next door Syria and has carried out dozens of high-profile attacks since the start of the year.

"What has reached you on Tuesday is just the first drop of rain, and a first phase, for by God's will after this we will have our revenge," the al Qaeda statement posted on a jihadist website said.

Car bombs and suicide blasts hit mainly Shiite districts in Baghdad and other cities on Tuesday.

Suicide attackers have struck nearly two times a week since January, a rate Iraq has not seen for several years.

Sunni Islamists see Iraq's Shiite-led government as oppressors of the country's Sunni minority and target Shiites to try to provoke a sectarian confrontation like the inter-communal slaughter that killed thousands in 2006-7.

A decade after U.S. and Western troops swept into Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein, the oil-producing country still struggles with sectarian tensions and political instability that test the fragile unity among Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish ethnic groups.

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Fareed Khan / AP

Pakistanis check the site of a bomb blast in Karachi, Pakistan, on Sunday, March 3.

An explosion rocked a Shiite section of Pakistan's largest city Sunday, killing at least 45 people and wounding dozens, according to officials and local television reports.

Two-bomb laden vehicles exploded in a residential area of Karachi and local officials searched for victims trapped in the rubble.

Slideshow: Pakistan: A nation in turmoil

Mohsin Raza / Reuters

Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.

Launch slideshow

Officials earlier said at least 25 were dead, but a Pakistani doctor said Monday that the toll had risen to 45 as wounded victims died overnight, according to reports in Pakistan's The Nation and Dawn.

The Associated Press said the blast occurred outside a Shiite Mosque as people were leaving evening prayers.

Azhar Iqbal, a local police official, told the AP that a bomb appeared to have been rigged to a motorcycle and that the damage indicated there could have been additional explosives at the scene. Iqbal said several nearby buildings caught on fire. Published reports have indicated women and children were among the dead.

Police in Karachi told Reuters a suicide bomber may have been responsible for the attack.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Sunni militants linked to al-Qaida and the Taliban have targeted Shiites in the past.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Tuwaedaniya Meringing / AFP - Getty Images

Thai police stand guard after a suspected insurgent attack at a military base in southern Thailand on Wednesday. Scores of heavily armed gunmen stormed the base in a major assault that left 16 militants dead.

BANGKOK -- A pre-dawn raid on a Thai military base ended with 16 militant Muslim insurgents killed on Wednesday in the deadliest violence in the country's south in nine years, marking a dangerous escalation in one of Asia's least-known conflicts.

Acting on a tip-off, marines lit flares and opened fire as up to 60 insurgents wearing military fatigues approached the base at about 1 a.m. local time in Narathiwat province on the Malaysian border, Internal Security Operations Command spokesman Pramote Phromin said. No Thai military members were hurt.

Violence is common in Thailand's south, but the scale of the attack and targeting of a marine base illustrate the difficulty Buddhist-majority Thailand faces in preventing the low-intensity Muslim insurgency from turning into a more dangerous conflict.

Surapan Boonthanom / Reuters

Thai security personnel investigate around bodies of insurgents at the site of an attack on a military base in the troubled southern province of Narathiwat on Wednesday.

Although there is no indication of the fighting spreading beyond the provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, just a few hours' drive from some of Thailand's most popular tourist beaches, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra appears powerless to quell the almost daily gunfights and bomb attacks.

"It was only going to be a matter of time before this type of incident happened," said Anthony Davis, a Thailand-based analyst at security consulting firm IHS-Jane's.

"The insurgents have been moving towards larger attacks on military bases since 2011. At the same time, there has been more proactive security intelligence work."

Experts say the insurgency is becoming better organized. Wednesday's death toll was the biggest since security forces stormed a mosque, known as the Krue Se mosque, in 2004, killing 32 Muslims in a raid that intensified the insurgency.

Since then, more than 5,300 people have been killed in the three provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, where insurgents are seeking greater autonomy.

About 94 percent of the region's 1.7 million people are Muslim, the main religion in neighboring Malaysia and in nearby Indonesia, and about 80 percent of them speak a Malay dialect as a first language, according to a 2010 survey by the Asia Foundation.

In recent weeks, attacks have appeared bolder. Five soldiers were killed by suspected insurgents on Sunday. That followed a spate of attacks on civilians, including one this month in which four fruit traders from outside the region were found shot dead with their hands and legs bound.

The government is considering imposing a curfew in parts of the south, where the military already has wide-ranging powers of search and arrest under an emergency decree.

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