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India-Pakistan
25 Shia dragged from bus, shot dead in Lulusar
2012-08-17
ISLAMABAD: Terrorists in northwest Pakistan forced passengers to step out of three buses in the Lulusar area and shot dead 25 of them in an apparent sectarian attack on Thursday, officials said.

The officials said as many as 15 terrorists wearing army uniforms
Were they off-duty or on?
checked the identification cards of the passengers and then opened fire after learning they were Shias. Officials said the buses were ambushed in the hills of Babusar Top, around 160 kilometres north of Islamabad.

"It is confirmed at least 22 people are dead," said a senior police official.

Pakistan is a Sunni majority state, and most Sunnis and Shias live peacefully together.
To borrow an MSM phrase, they are "mostly peaceful"...
But the country has a long history of sectarian attacks by extremists. Sunni terrorist groups inspired by al Qaeda often attack religious minorities such as Shias in Pakistan, a strategic US ally facing a Taliban insurgency.

"Ten to 12 people wearing army uniform stopped the bus and forced some people off the bus," said Khalid Omarzai, administration chief in Mansehra.

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.

"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. Angry mobs made faces burnt tyres and rolled their eyes fiercely blocked roads in some parts of the city to protest against the killings
I suppose that makes sense in an Islamic sort of way...
as extra police patrolled deserted streets and markets closed, said an AFP reporter in Gilgit.

GB Chief Minister Mehdi Shah called an emergency meeting of top officials and ordered them to step up security and demanded the immediate arrest of the killers, a spokesman said.
Posted by:Steve White

#5  Another repor Shia-focused attack ...

* DAILY TIMES.PK > DEADLY BOMB ROCKS SHIA BUS IN KARACHI: TWO DEAD, EIGHTEEN WOUNDED. The vehicle was on its way to a Youm-al-Quds rally.

Pakistan BFF Iran had already demanded in past that Pakistan do something to stop the anti-Shia violence - gotta wonder just how long Iran's patience agz Pakistan will last.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2012-08-17 23:41  

#4  Sometimes I think that if we just didn't do anything in the Mideast, our problems would resolve themselves. Of course when the problems spill over into other regions and places and affect long-standing allies, such problems can't be ignored.
Posted by: JohnQC   2012-08-17 13:10  

#3  Sunnis and Shias live peacefully together

long history of sectarian attacks by extremists

Do you think anyone associated with that publication smells even a whiff of irony there?
Posted by: AlanC   2012-08-17 11:45  

#2  Happy Ramadan.
Posted by: Pappy   2012-08-17 11:21  

#1  celebrating Ramadan the Sunni way!
Posted by: Frank G   2012-08-17 09:51  

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