Pakistan suicide attack kills 19

21 police officers found shot dead

QUETTA, PAKISTAN – A suicide bomber driving a vehicle packed with explosives rammed into a bus carrying Shiite Muslim pilgrims in southwest Pakistan on Sunday, killing 19 people, a government official and eyewitnesses said.

Earlier Sunday, 21 tribal policemen believed to have been kidnapped by the Taliban were found shot dead in Pakistan’s troubled northwest tribal region, government officials said.

Pakistan has experienced a spike in killings over the last year by radical Sunni Muslims targeting Shiites, who they consider heretics. The violence has been especially pronounced in Baluchistan province, where the latest attack occurred.

In addition to the 19 deaths in the bombing in Baluchistan’s Mastung district, 25 people were wounded, many of them critically, said Tufail Ahmed, a local political official.

The blast destroyed the bus and damaged a nearby second one, which also carried Shiites.

An eyewitness said the bomber rushed by in a pickup truck, swerved in front of the first bus and slammed on the brakes.

On board were more than 40 pilgrims headed to neighbouring Iran, a majority-Shiite country and a popular religious tourism destination, a witness from the second bus told Pakistani TV.

Shiites make up around 15 per cent of Pakistan’s 190 million people. They are scattered around the country, but Baluchistan has the largest community, mainly made up of ethnic Hazaras, easily identified by their facial features, which resemble those of Central Asians.

Sunni extremists have long carried out attacks against Shiites in Pakistan.

But the sectarian campaign has stepped up in recent years, fuelled mainly by the radical group Laskar-e-Jangvhi, aligned to Pakistani Taliban militants headquartered in the tribal region.

More than 300 Shiites have been killed in Pakistan this year, says Human Rights Watch.

The sectarian bloodletting adds another layer to the turmoil in Pakistan, where the government is fighting an insurgency by the Pakistani Taliban and where many fear Sunni hardliners are gaining strength.