Pakistan

Gunmen kill 3 Shia Muslims, injure 4 in Pakistan’s Karachi

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Gunmen have killed at least three Shia Muslims and injured four others in an attack in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi.

Assailants on motorbikes opened fire on a juice shop in a commercial area of Gulshan-e-Iqbal district of the metropolis on Saturday.

Local media say two of the wounded are in critical condition.

The bloodshed comes a few days after another deadly attack on Shia pilgrims in the southwestern city of Quetta.

Several people were killed and over thirty others wounded when an explosion hit the bus on the outskirts of the city near the border with Iran on Wednesday. The passengers were on their way back home from Iran.

On Friday, large crowds of demonstrators held a series of massive protest rallies to condemn attacks on Shia Muslims.

The protesters also expressed their “categorical rejection of hate speech and incitement to violence” against the Shia Muslims.

They blamed the foreign-funded Takfiri elements and pro-Taliban groups for the violence saying that the government must take decisive action against them.

Pro-Taliban groups have launched a violent campaign against Shia Muslims and appear to have widened their terror campaign in major Pakistani cities.

Several Shia religious gatherings have been targeted in different parts of the country over the past few months.

Shia Muslims in Pakistan say the government must take decisive action against the forces involved in the targeted killings. They also accuse Islamabad of failing to provide security for the Muslim community.

Shias make up about a third of Pakistan’s population of over 180 million.

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