13 killed in sectarian violence in Gilgit, Chilas

At least 13 people were killed and more than 50 injured in Gilgit and Chilas on Tuesday in violence being attributed to sectarian tensions in the country’s far north, officials said.
At least five people were killed and around 50 injured after unidentified persons threw a hand grenade and opened fire on a protest rally in Gilgit. Sunni leaders had called the strike in the Gari Bagh area of Gilgit over the arrest of one of their leaders for his alleged involvement in a sectarian attack on a funeral in February that left 18 dead.
“The unknown gunmen opened fire on a group of Sunnis while they were appealing to people to shut their shops in response to the strike call,” senior local police official Ali Sher told AFP. A curfew was imposed in the city after the incident to bring the situation under control, he said.
In the bloody incident in nearby Chilas town, gunmen opened fire and killed eight passengers. According to official sources, the passengers were taken off buses and were then killed. Six buses were also set ablaze. In the February sectarian violence in the region, gunmen disguised in military fatigues had hauled 18 Shia Muslim men off buses and shot them dead in cold blood in the northern district of Kohistan, which neighbours the Swat valley, a former Taliban stronghold.
A local intelligence official confirmed Tuesday’s attack and said a hand grenade had also been used. “But we still don’t know who the attackers were,” he said. “What we can say at the moment is that tensions have been mounting high between Shia and Sunni population in the area for the last many weeks.” Gilgit is the capital of Gilgit-Baltistan and is popular with mountaineers as a gateway to the Karakoram and Himalayan mountain ranges. Human rights groups have heavily criticised the Pakistani government for failing to crack down on sectarian violence between the country’s majority Sunni and minority Shia communities that has killed thousands. Despite the announcement of curfew, rival sects continued firing at each other, while the government warned residents to stay indoors or be shot dead. The ISPR said the Pakistan Army had been called in Gilgit to control the law and order.