Gunmen kill 43 in bus attack in Pakistan's Karachi
Gunmen on motorcycles boarded a bus and opened fire on commuters in Pakistan's volatile southern city of Karachi on Wednesday, killing at least 43, police said, and militants affiliated with Islamic State claimed responsibility.
The pink bus was pockmarked with bullet holes and blood saturated the seats and dripped out of the doors on to the concrete.
"As the gunmen climbed on to the bus, one of them shouted, 'Kill them all!' Then they started indiscriminately firing at everyone they saw," a wounded woman told a television channel by phone.
Police Superintendent Najib Khan told Reuters there were six gunmen and that all the passengers were Ismailis, a minority Shi'ite Muslim sect. Pakistan is mostly Sunni.
http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/05/13/pakistan-attack-idINKBN0NY0FJ20150513
Karachi bus massacre: Who are the Ismailis?
Dozens of members of Pakistan's Ismaili Shia minority have been killed in an assault by gunmen on their bus in Karachi. The attack came as a shock - even in a city where sectarian violence has been rife. Here is a look at the Ismaili community.
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How are Ismailis different from other Muslims?
Muslims are divided into two major groups, Sunnis and Shias. There are various sub-sects within each. All Shias believe in the Imamat - or spiritual leadership - of Ali, Prophet Muhammad's son-in-law and fourth Caliph.
After him, different sects follow different descendants of Ali as their Imam. Ismailis revere the Imam Ismail who died in 765 AD.
Ismailis interpret the Koran symbolically and allegorically and believe in a religious hierarchy.
In Pakistan, the largest Shia group, the Asna-e-Ashari, has been the main target of armed Sunni extremists.
Ismailis, Bohras and other smaller Shia sects, though occasional targets, have largely stayed unhurt, because of their smaller populations, relative affluence and their tendency to live in close-knit community.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32721136
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