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18 dead in Pakistan sectarian bus ambush
Sectarian gunmen ambushed a bus on Tuesday, killing 18 Shiite Muslims in a usually peaceful region of northern Pakistan that neighbours the former Taliban stronghold of Swat, officials said.The bus was stopped, before passengers were ordered off and shot in the mountainous district of Kohistan as it travelled from Rawalpindi, the city where Pakistan's army is headquartered, to the northern city of Gilgit. "Armed men hiding on both sides of the road attacked the bus," local police chief Mohammad Ilyas said. "Eighteen people have died and eight wounded," he added. The ambush happened near the town of Harban, 130 miles (208 kilometres) north of the capital Islamabad. Survivors said seven or eight gunmen stopped the bus, forced the passengers to get off and then opened fire, regional administration chief Khalid Omarzai told AFP by telephone, confirming the casualty numbers. "It appears to be a sectarian attack," local MP Abdul Sattar Khan said. Posted by: tipper 2012-02-28 |
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