Kalashnikov-wielding terrorists in police uniforms on Wednesday gunned down 47 Shia Ismaili Muslims, including 16 women, shooting them in the head as they attacked their bus in Pakistan's volatile Karachi city in the latest sectarian violence claimed by the dreaded Islamic State terror group.
Six to eight motorbike-borne assailants opened fire indiscriminately at the pink bus ferrying over 60 people to a Shia community centre to stop it, police said.
They first opened fire on the bus near the Dow Medical College and then entered the bus when it stopped at Safoora Chorangi, Gulistan-e-Johar, a relatively deserted area on the outskirts of the city.
The attackers killed 47 people, including 16 women, and wounded more than 20 others before fleeing from the scene, police said. "It was a targeted attack," Sindh Police Inspector General Ghulam Haider Jamali told reporters.
The death toll could further rise as some persons are seriously injured. The injured and dead were shifted to various hospitals by rescue workers.
A senior police official said the attackers entered the bus and shot the passengers in the head.
A blood-stained pamphlet of terrorist group Islamic State was recovered from the scene, according to a police official.
Balochistan-based militant group Jundullah, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban that has vowed allegiance to the IS, claimed responsibility for the attack. "These killed people were Ismaili and we consider them kafir (non-Muslim)... In the coming days, we will attack Ismailis, Shias and Christians," Jundullah spokesman Ahmed Marwat was quoted as saying by a media report. However, the government has not so far named any group for the attack.
The bus was disfigured with bullet holes and blood dripped out of its doors on to the concrete on the road. A rescue official quoted a victim as saying that the attackers were dressed in police uniforms.
Jamali said initial investigations showed that the armed men used 9mm pistols in the massacre. Empty bullet shells of pistols and Kalashnikovs were found at the scene.
The spiritual leader of the Ismaili community The Aga Khan expressed shock and sorrow over the attack. "This attack represents a senseless act of violence against a peaceful community. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and the families of those killed and wounded in the attack," he said.
The Aga Khan noted that the Ismailis are a peaceful global community living in harmony with other religious and ethnic groups in many countries across the world, including in the Muslim world.
This was the worst attack targeting the members of the minority community after a suicide bomber in January blew himself up in a Shia mosque in Shikarpur in the Sindh province killing 61 worshippers and bystanders.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah termed it a ‘terrorist attack’ and said the culprits will be arrested and justice will be done. He announced Rs 500,000 compensation for the dead and free treatment for the injured.
Pakistan People's Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan also strongly condemned the attack.
Pakistan has seen a rise in sectarian violence in recent years particularly against minority Shias who represent around 20 per cent of the country's Muslim population.
