Masses In Pakistan Take To The Streets, Condemns The Bus Convoy Attack That Killed 40 Shia Muslims

UNSPLASH/Ali Khokhar ILLUSTRATION

JAAKRTA - The crowd gathered in the remote mountain town of Parachinar in Pakistan. They were angered by the attack on a bus convoy that killed 40 Shia Muslims after being attacked with automatic rifle fire.

As reported by Reuters on Friday, November 22, local official totaling Mehsud said the death toll from the attack had risen to 40, including eight women, and 29 were hospitalized, nine of whom were in critical condition.

All the victims who died were Shia residents. No party has yet claimed responsibility.

Mehsud said two Sunni residents were killed in the retaliatory attack.

All markets, educational institutions, transportation, and other businesses in the city of Parachinar are closed, residents said.

Parachinar district, on Pakistan's northwestern border with Afghanistan, often experiences violence between the Sunni and Shiite Muslim communities over land and power. Tourists from and to the city carried out convoys escorted by security officers.

The Shiite group in the region, which is a minority in a country of 241 million people, the majority of whom are Sunni Muslims, is also attacked by the Islamic militant Sunni Tereek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which considers them heretical.