KARACHI: A court in Pakistan on Wednesday sentenced a Shiite militant to 14 years in prison for throwing grenades at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Karachi four years ago, a prosecutor said.

Zaki Qazi of the little known Lashkar-e-Mehdi group and his accomplice Tabish Hussain lobbed two grenades at the mission as they rode past on a motorcycle in May 2011, causing no casualties.

Police carried out a raid in November of that year, killing Hussain during fighting and arresting Qazi.

Special public prosecutor Shamim Akhtar told AFP: “The court has awarded 14 years’ imprisonment to the accused (Qazi) and confiscation of his property.”

Pakistan has since the 1980s been a battleground for proxy groups funded by Gulf states and Iran.

Sectarian violence — mainly attacks by Sunni militants on Shiites, who make up roughly 20 percent of the population — has claimed thousands of lives over the past decade.