Thousands mourn philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi

Pakistani philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi, revered as a "living saint" in the South Asian nation, was buried on the outskirts of Karachi on Saturday after a state funeral attended by thousands of people.

Edhi, 88, died late on Friday after a long kidney illness, triggering an outpouring of grief in the impoverished nation of 190 million for a man who transcended social, ethnic and religious divisions.

At one moment during the country's first state funeral since the 1980s, a crowd broke through military lines at Karachi's National Stadium to help carry Edhi's coffin, which was draped with Pakistan's green and white flag and covered with rose petals.