Pakistani authorities say gunmen attacked a bus in Karachi Wednesday, killing at least 43 people, including 16 women. The victims belonged to the minority Shi’ite Ismaili Muslim community.

Provincial police chief Inspector General Ghulam Haider Jamail said six men riding motorbikes ambushed and entered the bus and sprayed the passengers with bullets.

Witnesses told police the passengers thought the gunmen wanted to rob them so they immediately offered all their belongings, including mobile phones and money, begging for their lives. But the assailants ordered them to put their heads down and opened fire with automatic weapons.

The attackers, say witnesses, spared the two children aboard the bus and its driver, telling him to transport the bus to the hospital.

The crime investigation team head said evidence collected from the scene suggests weapons including “SMGs and 9mm” pistols were used in the attack.

Bus attacked in secluded area

Television footage showed the bus was on an unpaved road, with buildings under construction on both sides. It is a relatively secluded area of the city.

The attackers apparently fled the scene.  Authorities have cordoned off the area and transported the wounded to hospitals.

Local media said police have recovered pamphlets of little known militant group Khurasan claiming responsibility for the attack and identifying itself as part of Daesh, the Arabic acronym of Islamic State.

Authorities have yet to comment on the reports and the Pakistani government has previously rejected reports of the presence of Islamic State militants in the country. Such pamphlets have been previously recovered from other scenes of terrorist attacks but officials insist they are meant only to cause distraction.

Meanwhile, Pakistan military chief General Raheel Sharif has canceled his pre-scheduled trip to Sri Lanka because of the Karachi bus attack.

The Ismaili community in Pakistan is considered progressive and largely non-political, working mostly in the health and education sectors

Pakistan’s southern commercial hub Karachi has long been the site of ethnic, religious and political violence.

India reacts

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Twitter post has said the attack in Karachi is “deeply saddening” and “utterly condemnable.”

“Our thoughts are with the families of the deceased. We stand firmly with the people of Pakistan in this hour of grief. I wish all those injured a quick recovery,” he said.

In an unusual statement earlier this month, the Pakistan military accused the Indian intelligence agency, RAW, of “whipping up terrorism in Pakistan.”
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