Kalashnikov-wielding Islamic State (IS) militants donning police uniforms on Wednesday gunned down 45 Shia Ismaili Muslims, shooting them in the head as they attacked their bus here.
In the latest cold-blooded sectarian violence targetting the minority Shia community, six to eight motorbike-borne assailants opened fire indiscriminately at the bus ferrying over 60 people to a community centre, the police said.
The attackers killed 45 people — 26 men and 17 women — and wounded more than 20 others before fleeing, police said.
“It was a targeted attack,” said Sindh Police Inspector General Ghulam Haider Jamali. A blood-stained IS pamphlet was recovered from the scene, according to a police official. Later, IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
“Thanks be to Allah, 43 apostates were killed and around 30 were wounded in an attack carried out by IS soldiers on a bus transporting Shi’ite Ismaili infidels in the city of Karachi,” the extremist group said in a statement posted on jihadist Twitter accounts.
It was the first claim of responsibility by the IS for an attack in the region.
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