120 foreigners caught in Gilgit curfew evacuated

Around 120 foreigners, mostly Japanese tourists who had been stranded in Gilgit following sectarian clashes that killed at least 14 people, were evacuated on Sunday.
Gilgit has been under an indefinite curfew since April 3 when at least 14 people were killed and over 50 wounded in two separate incidents involving majority Sunni and Shia communities.
Around 120 foreigners including Chinese, German, Japanese, Korean and Thai tourists, were evacuated from Gilgit, officials at the Islamabad airport said.
An AFP photographer said the tourists, both male and female included 77 Japanese.
Earlier senior police officer Tahira Yasubuddin told AFP in Gilgit that a C-130 aircraft had arrived to transport them to Islamabad.
Clashes erupted in the northern town on April 3 after gunmen opened fire during a strike called by Sunni Islamists over the arrest of a leader for his alleged involvement in a sectarian attack in February that left 18 dead. After the incident, in which at least five people died, the government imposed a curfew in the town. Also on April 3 in Chilas, a Sunni-dominated town about 100 kilometres south of Gilgit, a mob blocked the main Karakoram Highway and killed nine Shias.