Pakistan: Group allied with IS claims responsibility for the gun attack in Karachi

(Vatican Radio) A group called Jundullah (Soldiers of God) allied with the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the gun attack on a bus carrying Ismaili Shia Muslims in the Pakistani city of Karachi, on Wednesday, in which at least 43 people have been killed and 20 injured

This attack directed against religious minorities, in which six gunmen fired indiscriminately into the passengers of a bus, was the second deadliest militant attack in Pakistan this year after 62 Shia Muslims were killed when Jundullah bombed a Shi'ite mosque in the southern province of Sindh, in January. The Taliban bombed another Shi'ite mosque in the northwest city of Peshawar weeks later.

"As the gunmen climbed on to the bus, one of them shouted, 'Kill them all!' Then they started indiscriminately firing at everyone they saw," a wounded woman told a television channel by phone. The pink bus was pockmarked with bullet holes and blood saturated the seats and dripped out of the doors on to the concrete.

Police Superintendent Najib Khan told Reuters there were six gunmen and that all the passengers were Ismailis, a minority Shi'ite Muslim sect. Pakistan has seen a rising tide of sectarian violence in recent years, particularly against Shias, who make up around 20 per cent of the country's population. Sunnis are about 70 per cent. Ismaili Shias are known for their progressive Islamic views. Their spiritual leader Prince Karim Aga Khan is a globally renowned philanthropist and business magnate.

In the violence by Taliban and Sunni militants against Shia Muslims in Pakistan, the Ismailis - which make up a tiny proportion of Shias - have been largely spared. But violence has increased since the Jundullah split from the Pakistani Taleban and allied themselves with the Islamic State group, since last November.

A Jundullah spokesman said it carried out the attack because it considered the victims "kafir," pagans. He threatened more attacks in the coming days against Ismailis, Shias and Christians. English leaflets left in the bus were headlined "Advent of the Islamic State!" The leaflets also blamed Shi'ites for a deadly sectarian attack in Rawalpindi, next to the capital Islamabad, and raged against extrajudicial killings by police.

"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 Shiite Ismaili infidels in the city of Karachi," the extremist group said in a statement posted on jihadist Twitter accounts. It was the first official claim of responsibility by the IS leadership of an attack in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.

IS, which has seized control of large parts of Syria and Iraq, announced in January the creation of a branch in what it called "Khorasan province", encompassing Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of surrounding countries.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he was saddened by the attack. "This is a very patriotic and peaceful people who have always worked for the wellbeing of Pakistan," he said."This is an attempt to spread divisions in the country."

Uzma Alkarim, a member of the Ismaili community, said the bus took commuters to work every day. The Ismailis had faced threats before, she said. "Around six months ago, our community elders had alerted us to be careful because of security threats but things had calmed down recently," she said.

On 15 March, two suicide bombers struck two churches, one Protestant and one Catholic, in Lahore, killing 14 people and wounding at least 80.