Bus attack: 7 killed, 3 injured in Shaheed Benazirabad

Bus with nearly 50 people on board was on its way to Swabi from Karachi when unknown men opened fire on it.

SHAHEED BENAZIRABAD: At least seven people were killed and three were injured as unknown assailants opened fire inside a bus on Friday. The bus was on its way from Karachi to Swabi in Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa.

Around 50 passengers were on board when the bus came under attack on National Highway at Rinn Shakh, near Qazi Ahmed Taluka of Shaheed Benazirabad district.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Sardar Khan Chandio said that the Sindhu Desh Liberation Army had claimed responsibility for the attack.

One body was shifted to Peoples Medical College Hospital in Shaheed Benazirabad district, while the remaining six were moved to Taluka Hospital, Qazi Ahmed.

The second driver of the bus, Lal Khan, told the media that a passenger had gotten on the bus from Sakrand. He had asked the driver to pull over at Rinn Shakh where his brother was waiting to get on the bus.

“When the bus stopped, four armed men got on the bus and opened fire and later fled on two motorbikes,” Khan said.

Five persons died on the spot, while two passed away at the hospital.

The deceased were identified as Haji Abdul Ghaffar Pathan (driver), Shahzad Hassan and Muhammad Makrab from Attock, Sameeullah Khan from Mianwali, Gulreb Khan from Swabi, Abdul Majeed and Arsalan Majeed from Taxila.

One deceased could not be identified, while Qair, Tahir Ali and Ameer Ali were among the injured.

According to eyewitnesses, the attackers raised slogans that they had taken revenge for an attack on the Awami Tehreek rally in Karachi.

Other eyewitnesses quoted that the assailants had said that the attack was revenge for the murder of Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM) leader Muzaffar Bhutto, whose body was found from Hyderabad after 15 months of his disappearance.

However, the bus cleaner, Nadeem Khan, said the attackers did not discriminate on if the victims were Sindhis or non-Sindhis. “They didn’t ask about anyone’s ethnicity. They climbed up and opened fire and fled while raising slogans.”

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Police Hyderabad Sanaullah Abbassi, who reached the site of the attack, told the media that at least 25 bullet shells were seen around the bus.

“The attackers fired inside and from outside the bus.”

The DIG said the police could not say whether automatic weapons were used in the incident as the shells were still being collected.

The passengers who escaped the attack were shifted to a safe place, which the police authorities declined to reveal.