Karachi: Funeral prayers for 44 victims of the deadly gun-attack on an Ismaili community bus were offered on Thursday morning at the Al-Azhar Garden colony in Karachi.
With tears and overwhelming grief, friends and loved ones performed the final rites of the 44 ill-fated men and women who were gunned down mercilessly in Safoora Chaurangi area on Wednesday morning. The bodies were shifted for burial to a community graveyard in Sakhi Hassan area under tight security.
Paramilitary Rangers conducted a series of targeted raids in Sohrab Goth and Safoora Goth neighbourhoods on late on Wednesday night and arrested 18 suspects, the rangers said in a statement, giving no further details. A day of mourning was observed across Pakistan with the national flag flying at half-mast to honour the victims of the massacre.
The Sindh government, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Tahafuz-e-Azadari Council Pakistan and the Shia Ulema Council also observed a nationwide day of mourning. Traffic and public transport was sparse in Karachi while commercial centres and private schools remained closed. All the shops remained closed on announcement of the Karachi Tajir Ittehad Council.
Examinations for matriculation and intermediate and papers at all universities were postponed. Meanwhile, two more injured passengers belonging to the Ismaili community succumbed to their wounds on Thursday taking the death toll to a grisly 46.
