Not less than 45 people have been killed and 20 injured in a gun attack on a bus carrying Ismaili Shia Muslims in the Pakistani city of Karachi, police say. A police official said six gunmen on motorcycles had stopped the bus and fired indiscriminately at passengers. BBC reports:
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has condemned the attack and ordered an investigation. A splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban called Jundullah has said it carried out the attack. A leaflet was also left at the scene claiming the so-called Islamic State group was responsible. It is the second deadliest militant attack in Pakistan this year after 62 Shia Muslims were killed in a suicide bombing in January.
About 60 people were on board the bus when it was stopped in the Safoora Goth area on its way to an Ismaili Shia place of worship, police said. They said 9mm pistols were used. The BBC’s Urdu service editor Aamer Ahmed Khan in Karachi said it seemed to be a well-planned attack.
He said the bus was making one of five daily scheduled trips between a gated community housing mainly Ismailis on the north-eastern outskirts and the main city. The relatives of some survivors said it was stopped as it was about to enter the city by men dressed as policemen who clearly intended to kill and fled minutes after the assault.
They said the bus driver was killed and an injured passenger drove it to Memon Hospital Institute.
