Gunmen Kill 43 Ismaili Muslims in Karachi Bus Attack
Masked gunmen attacked a bus carrying Ismaili Muslims in Karachi, Pakistan early Wednesday, killing 43 people.
The bus was carrying about 60 people and was making a stop along its daily route between a gated Ismaili community and other locations in Karachi when the gunmen attacked. Police told the BBC that six gunmen, dressed as police officers, drove up on the bus on motorcycles “and fired indiscriminately at passengers.”
“As the gunmen climbed on to the bus, one of them shouted, ‘Kill them all!’” a woman injured in the attack Reuters witnessed telling a local television station.
According to the New York Times, Jundullah, a Taliban splinter group, has taken responsibility for the attack. Ismailis, a Shiite Muslim sect, and “an educated and affluent community,” are a minority group in a largely Sunni Pakistan, and have rarely been the target of terrorist groups.
