File Photo. Rizwan Tabassum
Five people killed, another six injured after two men on motorcycle open fire on Shia gathering.
Two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on a Shia Muslim gathering in Karachi late Saturday, killing five people, police and hospital officials said.
The attack occurred in a congested neighborhood in the city center where Shia worshippers were congregating for a religious gathering, a senior police official told AFP. “Two attackers on a motorbike opened indiscriminate fire on the participants coming for the gathering,” Tayyab Muqaddas Haider said.
The attackers fled the scene after the assault, he added.
Five people including a woman were killed in the attack while another six suffered injuries, Zafar Rajput, a senior official in Karachi’s Abbasi Shaheed hospital said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Sectarian violence—in particular by Sunni hardliners against Shia Muslims who make up roughly 20 percent of Pakistan’s 200 million people—has claimed thousands of lives in the country over the past decade.