Two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on a Shia Muslim gathering in Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi late Saturday, killing five people, police and hospital officials said.
The attack occurred in a congested neighbourhood in the city centre where Shia worshippers were congregating for a religious gathering, a senior police official told AFP.
“Two attackers on a motorbike opened indiscriminate fire on the participants coming for the gathering,” Tayyab Muqaddas Haider said.
The attackers fled the scene after the assault, he added.
Five people including a woman were killed in the attack while another six suffered injuries, Zafar Rajput, a senior official in Karachi’s Abbasi Shaheed hospital said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Sectarian violence -- in particular by Sunni hardliners against Shias who make up roughly 20% of Pakistan’s 200 million people -- has claimed thousands of lives in the country over the past decade.