Gunmen attack bus of Shia pilgrims, kills 26 in Pakistan

Unidentified gunmen Tuesday attacked a bus of Shia Muslims in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province killing 26 pilgrims, officials and local media said. The pilgrims were heading to the border town of Taftan for onward journey to religious places in the neighbouring Iran, officials said. The bus driver told media that the gunmen stopped the bus in Mastung, a town some 70 kilometers from Quetta, the provincial capital, and forced the passengers to come out of the bus. Then they asked the people to stand in a queue and opened fire on them. An official in the region said that 26 people died at the scene and several were injured. The injured were admitted in a local hospital and critically injured were shifted to Quetta. Emergency was declared in the Quetta main hospitals, health officials said. Witnesses said that the gunmen arrived on two motorcycles and attacked the pilgrims. The bus driver said that nearly 60 people, including several traders, were in the bus when it was intercepted by the gunmen. Local sources said that the gunmen continued firing for 10 minutes and then fled after believing that they have killed many of the passengers. The bus was heading to Taftan from Quetta where it drops the pilgrims who cross the border into Iran to take another bus to visit religious site there. No group claimed responsibility for the attack. Taliban militants have in the past attacked Shia Muslims in Balochistan in targeted attacks. Shia groups strongly condemned the attack and said the government should have taken steps for the security of the passengers in view of the recent sectarian-motivated attacks. They said they would stage protest rallies across Pakistan to press the government to arrest the terrorists.