KARACHI, Pakistan – Gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on a bus in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi today, killing at least 43 people, police said, in the latest attack directed against religious minorities this year.
Television channels carried pictures of a pink bus covered in 
bullet holes and lines of waiting ambulances.
bullet holes and lines of waiting ambulances.
“There were six attackers. They boarded the bus and carried out the shooting,” Police Superintendent Najib Khan told Reuters.
He said all the passengers were from the Ismaili community, a minority Shi’ite Muslim sect in majority-Sunni Pakistan.
No one immediately claimed responsibility but Taliban splinter groups have bombed several mosques belonging to religious minorities this year.
In March, suicide bombings outside two churches in Lahore killed 14 people and wounded nearly 80.
Days later, a bomb after Friday
prayers wounded 12 people outside a minority Bohra mosque in Karachi.
In February, 20 people were killed in an attack on a Shi’ite mosque in the northeastern city of Peshawar, and 60 were killed in a January attack on a Shi’ite mosque in the southern province of Sindh.
Many religious minorities blame the government for not doing enough to protect them. Police are routinely underpaid, poorly equipped and poorly trained.
Karachi, a megacity of 18 million that is Pakistan’s financial heart, is also under the responsibility of the paramilitary Rangers, who report to the generals.
Source: – Reuters
In March, suicide bombings outside two churches in Lahore killed 14 people and wounded nearly 80.
Days later, a bomb after Friday
prayers wounded 12 people outside a minority Bohra mosque in Karachi. In February, 20 people were killed in an attack on a Shi’ite mosque in the northeastern city of Peshawar, and 60 were killed in a January attack on a Shi’ite mosque in the southern province of Sindh.
Many religious minorities blame the government for not doing enough to protect them. Police are routinely underpaid, poorly equipped and poorly trained.
Karachi, a megacity of 18 million that is Pakistan’s financial heart, is also under the responsibility of the paramilitary Rangers, who report to the generals.
Source: – Reuters
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