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Nine Dead, Including Two Soldiers, After Militants Open Fire On Bus In Northern Pakistan

By RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal December 03, 2023

Nine people have been killed, including two soldiers, after unidentified militants opened fire on a passenger bus accompanied by a security-forces vehicle in northwestern Pakistan.

At least 26 were injured, including one soldier and a local Sunni cleric, in the attack in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, according to local police and government officials.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the late-evening attack, the injury to the cleric led Interior Minister Shamsul Lone to suggest on December 3 that the aim was "to breed religious hatred."

Lone said the militants fired on the two vehicles from nearby hills as they traveled on the Karokoram Highway to the Punjab Province city of Rawalpindi. The highway, which connects Pakistan to China and also passes through the restive Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province.

Security forces were accompanying the passenger bus due to recent tensions between local Sunnis and Shi'a, Lone said.

Interim Prime Minister Anwar ul-Haq Kakar said in a statement that "anti-state elements would not be allowed to sabotage the peace of Gilgit-Baltistan," and vowed to continue fighting "against terrorists."

Authorities in Gigit-Baltistan said that a special investigative team has been formed to look into the attack.

Muhammad Khorasani, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan and active in the region, denied any link with the shooting.

Local and central government officials have requested that religious scholars work to lessen Sunni-Shi'a tensions that have risen since summer after scholars on both sides accused each other of insulting their respective branches of Islam.

In September, a joint committee of Shi'ite and Sunni leaders was formed with the aim of preventing conflicts.

Following the December 2 attack, the committee condemned the violence and called on people to remain calm.

Gilgit-Baltistan lies along China's One Ring One Road initiative and is the sight of a dam project being built with the help of Beijing.

Interior Minister Lone said there was a possibility the attack was carried out in an effort to scare investors.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/pakistan-northwest- militants-open-fire-bus-kill-nine/32711692.html

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Nine Dead, Including Two Soldiers, After Militants Open Fire On Bus In Northern Pakistan