At Least 33 Killed In Karachi Bombings

Attacks Targeted Shi'ites During Religious Procession

At least 33 people were killed today and 167 seriously wounded in a pair of attacks in the recently turbulent Pakistani city of Karachi.

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.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.