Pakistani Sunni Extremist Leader Freed From Jail

Lashkar-e Jhangvi leader Malik Ishaq waves to supporters in Lahore on July 14.

Pakistan has released the head of a banned Sunni extremist group after a court granted him bail.

Lawyer Arif Mehmood Rana said that Malik Ishaq, the leader of the Lashkar-e Jhangvi organization, was freed from a prison in the eastern city of Lahore.

Ishaq was detained over a August 19 speech in the wake of a rise in sectarian violence between majority Sunni and minority Shi'ite Muslims.

Ishaq has been implicated in dozens of murder cases.

He is also accused of masterminding a 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, which wounded some players and killed eight Pakistanis.

Lashkar-e Jhangvi, which is said to have Al-Qaeda links, is regarded as the most extreme Sunni militant group in Pakistan.

It is accused of killing hundreds of Shi'a.

Based on reporting by AFP and BBC