A motorcycle bomber hit a bus during a Shi’ite religious procession in the city, killing 13, and injuring scores, and about an hour later another bomber attacked the emergency ward of the hospital where people injured in the first attack were being treated.
Virtually all of the casualties were Shi’ite civilians, commemorating Arba’een in the city. Pakistani government officials said the attacks were aimed at fomenting sectarian unrest, but so far no one has claimed credit for them.
Though this appears to be the first recent religiously motivated attack in the city, Karachi has also been suffering a rising number of political attacks, as members of the ruling PPP target MQM party workers, and vice-versa. The growing unrest in Karachi has led the province’s Home Minister Zulifiqar Mirza to suggest he will soon approach the army about taking over day-to-day operations inside Karachi.