KARACHI: At least five people were killed and many others were wounded in what appeared to be a sectarian attack in Karachi on Saturday, police said. The death toll is feared to go up as at least two people are critically injured. The gun attack took place in a residential area near a police station...

The death toll is feared to go up as at least two people are critically injured.The gun attack took place in a residential area near a police station in Nazimabad No 4 area of the city. A Rangers station is located merely half a kilometer from the attack site.According to police, two gunmen riding a bike entered a street in Nazimabad and attacked a majlis (Shia religious gathering) which was under way in a tent.Rescue officials confirmed that five people perished in the firing incident. Those killed or injured in the attack were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.Police and Rangers reached the scene, cordoned off the area and launched a probe.Initial probe suggests that there were four attackers. Two assailants targeted the male participants of the majlis while their accomplices gave them a cover.According to an eyewitness, two gunmen wearing helmets opened fire on the male section of the majlis at 5:45 and escaped.Taking notice of the incident, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah made a telephone call to Sindh police chief and asked him to bring the perpetrators of the terrorist attack to justice.On the other hand, IG police Mushtaq Mehr asked for a report about the attack.According to the police, many empty shells of 9mm firearm were recovered from the scene of attack.Police say they were not informed about the majlis.In a press atement, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali condemned the terrorist attack. - SAMAA </s> The shooting took place in the North Nazimabad neighborhood of the sprawling metropolis of more than 18 million people, where sectarian, ethnic and political violence is common.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi's Al Alami faction, which targets Shi'ites and Pakistan's security forces, killed more than 60 police cadets in the southwestern city of Quetta on Monday in an attack in conjunction with Islamic State.

But it said it carried out this attack on its own.

"Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al Alami accepts responsibility for those killed in this attack, and we announce that there is no room for the enemies of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad in Pakistan," said Ali bin Sufyan, the group's spokesperson, in a statement.

Provincial police chief Allah Dino Khwaja told reporters men on two motorcycles fired on the gathering.

Four people were killed and another three wounded, Nasir Aftab, a senior police officer, said.

Violence and crime has dropped significantly in Karachi since the launch of a paramilitary operation in the city three years ago, but targeted attacks still occur frequently.

Shi'ite Muslims make up about 20 percent of Pakistan's 190 million people, and sectarian attacks against them - including bombings and targeted attacks - have become increasingly common in recent years.

Since 2002, more than 2,500 Shi'ite Muslims have been killed in such attacks, according to data gathered by the South Asia Terrorism Portal. At least 23 people have been killed in such attacks this year, it said. </s> KARACHI: At least 13 people, including five policemen, were on Tuesday injured in two separate suicide bombings during Eid prayers targeting minority Shias in Pakistan’s relatively peaceful southern Sindh province.

Four suicide attackers infiltrated Shikarpur district’s Khanpur tehsil, 470 kilometres north of Karachi, police said.

Two of the attackers targeted an Eid prayer ground where one assailant blew himself up, injuring 10 people, two of whom were policemen. The other attacker fled, they said.

Two other suicide bombers targeted a Shia mosque but they were stopped at the entrance by policemen, which led to one of the attackers to blow himself up while the other was arrested.

Three policemen were injured in the attack, one of whom was critical. Last year, at least 61 people were killed in a suicide attack on a mosque in the district.

“If the policemen had not prevented these suicide bombers from entering the prayer venues there would have been large-scale casualties because of the large gathering because of Eid prayers,” he said.

He said the attackers at the Shia mosque were stopped by policemen as they looked suspicious and when confronted one of them detonated himself.

“The other attacker was brought down and arrested,” he added. Those injured in the blast have been admitted to hospitals in Shikarpur for treatment. No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Five people are killed and several other civilians injured as armed terrorists, targeting Shia Muslims, open fire on participants of a Majlis at a home in the Nazimabad district of Karachi, Pakistan.