Dozens Killed in Attack on Pilgrim Bus in Pakistan

NYTimes.com

Pakistan — Gunmen in the southwestern province of Baluchistan attacked a bus carrying Shiite pilgrims to Iran on Tuesday, killing at least 25 people and wounding 6 more, local police officials said.

The driver of the bus told police that 8 to 10 attackers ordered the pilgrims off the bus and then opened fire on them, the police said.

Hours after the attack, Lashkar-e-Jangvi, an extremist Sunni group that the authorities say carried out previous attacks against Shiites in Baluchistan, claimed responsibility for the attack on the bus. The group is believed to be affiliated with Al Qaeda.

The attack occurred at Mastung, about 30 miles south of Quetta, the provincial capital, along the road to the Iran-Pakistan border crossing at Taftan. About 50 passengers were on the bus when it was attacked, according to Saeed Imrani, the local deputy police commissioner.

Attacks on Shiite pilgrims traveling to Iran through Baluchistan have been frequent over the last decade. Two such attacks occurred last month. A year ago, 57 people at a Shiite rally in Quetta were killed by a suicide bomber. Shiites are a minority in Pakistan, whose population is mainly Sunni Muslim. Most of the Shiites in Baluchistan belong to the Hazara ethnic group, who are also numerous in Afghanistan and Iran. Shiites in Quetta have complained that the local authorities have failed to provide adequate protection for their mosques and neighborhoods.