Stop Shia Killings

Gunmen dragged 20 Shia Muslim travelers off a bus and killed them at point blank range in northern Pakistan on Thursday, the third such incident in six months.

The attack happened in the northwestern district of Mansehra as the bus was travelling between Rawalpindi and the mainly Shia northern city of Gilgit. It was ambushed in the hills of Babusar Top, around 100 miles north of the capital Islamabad.

Ten to 12 people wearing army uniform stopped the bus and forced some people off the bus. After checking their papers, they opened fire and at least 20 people are reported to have been killed. They are all Shias. Mansehra police chief Sher Akbar Khan put the toll at 19, saying the attackers had worn military commando uniforms when they opened fire at around 6.00 am. “They intercepted three buses, took people out and checked their ID cards and later sprayed bullets at them,” Khan said.

Sectarian violence linked to Gilgit, a popular tourist destination for wealthy Pakistanis and expatriates who live in the country, has increased in recent months.

It is the capital of Pakistan’s far northern Gilgit-Baltistan region and is popular with mountaineers as a gateway to the Karakoram and Himalayan mountain ranges.

On February 28, gunmen hauled 18 Shia Muslim men off buses travelling from Rawalpindi to Gilgit in the northern district of Kohistan, shooting them dead. On April 3, a mob dragged nine Shia Muslims from buses and also shot those dead in the town of Chilas, about 60 miles south of Gilgit.