Dozens killed in Pakistan bus attack

© AFP / Rizwan Tabassum (file photo) | Pakistani policemen escort Shiite Muslims during an Ashura procession in Karachi on December 16, 2010

Gunmen on motorcycles killed 41 people in an attack on a bus in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi on Wednesday, police said, in what appeared to be the latest violence directed against religious minorities this year.

Television channels carried pictures of a pink bus covered in bullet holes and an interview with Police Superintendent Najib Khan who said 41 people had been killed.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

A senior police officer told AFP those killed in the attack were mostly minority Shiite Ismaili Muslims.

"The gunmen stopped the bus and first fired at it from outside," said the policeman.

"Then they entered inside the bus and open fire indiscriminately. After that they checked to see if anyone was left uninjured.

"The bus had a capacity of 52 passengers but it was overloaded and dozens of people were boarding it. Most of them were from (the) Ismaili community," he added.

An official of the Ismaili National Council, a group which represents the community, said the bus was owned by the community's welfare board.

Pakistan has seen a spike in sectarian violence in recent years, particularly against minority Shiites who represent around 20 percent of the country's predominantly Muslim population of 200 million.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)