What the Fck ... Rest in peace 41 killed .. Any news who were these people
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41 killed as gunmen attack bus carrying Ismaili passengers in Karachi
IMTIAZ ALI — UPDATED 2 minutes ago
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Around eight to ten armed men riding four motorcycles opened indiscriminate fire on a bus wounding several passengers. — AP/file
KARACHI: At least 41 people were killed and 20 others wounded on Wednesday when armed men opened fire on a bus carrying members of the Ismaili community near Safoora Chowk area in Karachi.
Hospital sources said that the dead included 25 men and 16 women. Police officials say that there were no children among the casualties.
Attackers entered bus and fired
An eye-witness said around eight men riding three to four motorcycles opened indiscriminate fire on a bus, wounding several passengers. However, video footage of the bus does not show bullet holes on the body of the vehicle suggesting that the attackers may have entered and fired.
A senior police official, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to the media, told Dawn that the attackers entered the bus and shot the passengers in the head.
“The gunmen stopped the bus and first fired at it from outside,” a policeman told AFP. “Then they entered inside the bus and open fire indiscriminately. After that they checked to see if anyone was left uninjured."
“The bus had a capacity of 52 passengers but it was overloaded and dozens of people were boarding it. Most of them were from (the) Ismaili community,” he added.
Ismaili community attacked: police
An official of the Ismaili National Council, a group which represents the community, added: “We have confirmation of five dead and dozens injured including women and children in an attack on a bus owned by our community's welfare board.
“The dead and injured have been shifted to the private Memon Medical Center nearby,” he said.
The bus belongs to the Al-Azhar Garden Colony, which is an Ismaili community housing project in Karachi. It was on its regular route headed towards Federal B Area of Karachi.
A rescue official told Dawn.com that around 50 to 60 people were travelling on the bus when the attack took place.
The attackers managed to escape from the scene after the incident.
Security and rescue teams reached the spot. Fear and panic gripped the area after the attack.
Rescue personnel shifted the victims to nearby hospitals where an emergency has been imposed. Five of the wounded succumbed to their wounds while en route to the hospital, according to rescue sources.
The condition of several wounded was reported as critical and the death toll is expected to increase.
Police and Rangers personnel cordoned off the area as a probe into the incident went underway.
The Ismailis are a peaceful, progressive and largely apolitical community predominantly working in the health and education sectors.
In the past there has been anti-Ismaili violence in Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan, mostly in the form of communal flare-ups. In 2013, a bomb attack at Aisha Manzil killed four and injured 42 others.
The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan had claimed responsibility for the attack.
— This is a developing story and will be updated accordingly
