LIVE: 47 Shiites killed, several injured as armed men open fire on bus in Karachi

READ: City with the ravished soul

The Taliban and other Sunni Muslim extremist groups, which view Shiites as apostates, have long had a presence in Karachi and have targeted Shiites in the past.

Attackers reportedly entered the bus and opened fire. Quoting an eyewitness, the Dawn said, “around eight men riding three to four motorcycles opened indiscriminate fire on a bus, wounding several passengers.” A senior police official, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to the media, told Dawn that the attackers entered the bus and shot the passengers in the head.

The gunmen stopped the overloaded bus, entered inside and open fire indiscriminately, the police said. Nobody took responsibility but the Taliban and groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi often carry out such attack. Police and Rangers arrived at the scene and started manhunt.

A Pakistani security official displays cartridges he collected from the scene of an attack on a bus, in Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, May 13, 2015. Gunmen killed dozens of people on Wednesday aboard a bus in southern Pakistan bound for a Shiite community center, in the latest attack targeting the religious minority, police said. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

More than 60 people were on the board the bus which was carrying the people of Ismaili community from Al-Azhar Garden area of the city to their place of worship near Aysha Manzil, police said. Ismaili community is a branch of Shia Muslims and they are considered very peaceful people.

The attack came a day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited Kabul and declared that enemies of Afghanistan are also enemies of Pakistan. Pakistan has seen a rise in sectarian violence in recent years particularly against minority Shias who represent around 20 per cent of the country’s Muslim population.

Here are the LIVE updates:

TTP splinter group Jundullah claims responsibility for Karachi bus attack.

Karachi bus attackers were dressed in police uniforms, rescue official quotes victims.

A police official says the attackers entered the bus and shot the passengers in the head.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah orders immediate suspension of the area’s SHO and DSP.

The bus was carrying members of the Ismaili community near Safoora Chowk area in Karachi: Dawn

(with AP and PTI inputs)

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