PESHAWAR: Gunmen pulled 20 Shia Muslims from a bus and killed them at point blank range in Pakistan on Thursday, the third such incident in six months, officials said.
The incident happened in the northwestern district of Mansehra as the bus was travelling between Rawalpindi and the northern city of Gilgit.
Officials said it was ambushed in the hills of Babusar Top, around 100 miles north of Islamabad, although they differed over details of the incident.
Ten to 12 people stopped the bus and forced some people off the bus, said Khalid Omarzai, administration chief in Mansehra.
After checking their papers, they opened fire and at least 20 people are reported to have been killed. This is initial information and the final toll may go up. They are all Shias, he said.
Local police official Shafiq Gul told AFP that the gunmen were masked, but said the victims were pulled from three separate vehicles in the district, which neighbours the Swat valley.
They stopped three vehicles, searched them and picked up people in three batches of five, six and nine and shot them dead. They were all Shias, he 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 Pakistans 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 them dead in the town of Chilas, about 60 miles south of Gilgit.
At least 20 Shias pulled off bus, shot dead in northern Pakistan | DAWN.COM
