45 Ismaili Shias executed in Karachi bus shooting

• Six terrorists ambush community bus at Karachi’s Safoora Chowk area, kill most persons on board by shooting them in head
• Jundullah and Islamic State claim responsibility for dastardly attack in separate statements

At least 45 people were killed and 13 others wounded on Wednesday when armed terrorists opened fire inside a bus carrying members of the Ismaili community near Safoora Chowk in Karachi.

Sindh Police Inspector General Ghulam Haider Jamali told reporters that 60 people were on board the bus when six gunmen entered and executed 45 passengers. All victims were shot from a close-range – in their necks and heads.

Police officials said that there were no children among the casualties. He added that the armed men used 9mm pistols and a SMG assault rifle in the massacre.

Police investigators suspect that the ammunition used in the attack was snatched from policemen by terrorists who had gunned down DSP Fateh Muhammad Sangri and his guards in Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Hadeed area earlier this month.

JUNDULLAH, IS CLAIM ATTACK:

Conflicting claims of responsibility emerged soon after the incident as both the Islamic State militant outfit and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan affiliated Jundullah attempted to take credit for the attacks.

Ahmed Marwat, a spokesman for TTP Jundullah, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The al Qaeda affiliated group that started off from South Waziristan has targeted Shia minorities and foreign tourists in the past as well. In November last year, the group had pledged support to Islamic State (IS).

In the past, the proscribed group has claimed several attacks including a blast near the Wagah border in November 2014 and the July 2013 attack on the compound of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in Sukkur. It has also claimed the several attacks on polio workers across the country.

Meanwhile, the IS claims, posted on Twitter, are set to raise fears over the Middle East-based jihadists’ growing influence after they announced in January the creation of a branch in what they called “Khorasan province”, encompassing Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of surrounding countries.

“Thanks be to Allah, 43 apostates were killed and around 30 were wounded in an attack carried out by Islamic State soldiers on a bus transporting Shia Ismaili infidels in the city of Karachi,” the extremist group said in an Arabic statement.

THE ATTACK:

A survivor of the attack told police that the attackers entered the bus from the rear portion a few minutes after its departure. She added that the occupants of the bus thought that robbers had embarked on the vehicle.

The assailants subdued the driver and separated (two) children from the others, the victims said and added that, “They told the passengers to keep their head low. One of the attackers situated in the rear side of the bus then ordered his associates to ‘shoot every one’ after which they indiscriminately targeted all passengers of the bus.”

All attackers were speaking fluent Urdu, according to the survivor.

A rescue official quoted a victim as saying that the attackers were dressed in police uniforms.

At the city’s Memon Hospital Institute, where most of the wounded were rushed, crying relatives formed a human chain outside the main building to keep onlookers away.

A sobbing middle-aged man said: “I have come to collect the body of my young son. He was a student preparing for his first year exams at college.”

The bus itself, which had been driven after the attack to the hospital, was blood-drenched and riddled with bullet holes.

Investigation Officer Tariq Jadoon said that some blue caps, which are used by private security guards, have also been recovered from the crime scene along with 9mm casings.

“The gunmen stopped the bus and first fired at it from outside,” a policeman said. “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.

POLICE SUSPENDED:

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah ordered immediate suspension of the area’s Station House Officer (SHO) and Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP).

“The SHO, DSP have been suspended, we will find out whether the bus had security, whether they had asked for it or not,” the provincial chief minister said. “If there is a security lapse, it will be investigated.”

He announced a compensation of Rs 500,000 each for the heirs of those killed in the massacre and Rs 200,000 each for those wounded in the attack. Shah also announced that the government will bear all expenses incurred for the treatment of the victims.

Wednesday’s attack was the second deadliest in Pakistan this year after 62 Shias were killed in a suicide bombing in late January.

Sources in the police told Pakistan Today that in wake of serious security threats to the minority Ahmadiyya and Ismaili Shia communities, the police had set up barricades around Al-Azhar Gardens and Country Garden – the two apartment buildings hosting a large number of Ismaili and Ahmadiyya communities.