ISIL claims deadly attack on Karachi Shiites, first in Pakistan

Pistol-wielding gunmen in Pakistan's biggest city Karachi stormed a bus carrying members of the Shiite Ismaili minority May 13, killing at least 43 in the first attack in the country officially claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

ISIL claims, posted on Twitter, are set to raise fears over the Middle East-based jihadists' growing influence after they announced in January the creation of a branch in what they called "Khorasan province", encompassing Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of surrounding countries.
 
"Thanks be to Allah, 43 apostates were killed and around 30 were wounded in an attack carried out by Islamic State [ISIL] soldiers on a bus transporting Shiite Ismaili infidels in the city of Karachi," the extremist group said in an Arabic statement, citing a higher number of injured than Pakistani officials.
 
Pakistani police also found leaflets claiming ISIL responsibility at the scene of the attack in the city's eastern Malir district, while the homegrown Jundullah militant faction, which some analysts suspect of having ties to ISIL, made a separate claim of responsibility to AFP.
 
Pakistan has experienced a rising tide of sectarian violence in recent years, particularly against Shiites, who make up around 20 percent of the country's predominantly Muslim population of 200 million.
 
"According to the initial information which we have received from hospitals, 43 people have been killed and 13 wounded," Ghulam Haider Jamali, police chief of Sindh province told reporters.
 
"Six terrorists came on three motorcycles, they entered the bus and began firing indiscriminately. They used 9mm pistols," he said.
 
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