PAKISTAN: GUNMEN KILL TWO SUNNI MUSLIM VLERICS IN DRIVE-BY SHOOTING IN SOUTHERN CITY OF KARACHI

Record ID: 377069

  • Title: PAKISTAN: GUNMEN KILL TWO SUNNI MUSLIM VLERICS IN DRIVE-BY SHOOTING IN SOUTHERN CITY OF KARACHI
  • Date: 24th June 2005
  • Summary: (BN02) KARACHI, PAKISTAN (JUNE 23, 2005) (REUTERS) (NIGHTSHOTS) 1. WS: PEOPLE AND AMBULANCES OUTSIDE HOSPITAL AND PHOTOGRAPHERS TAKING PICTURES 0.04 2. RELATIVES AND ISLAMIC STUDENTS TAKING INJURED INTO HOSPITAL 0.09 3. RELATIVES, CLERICS AND ISLAMIC STUDENTS SURROUNDING BODY OF MUFTI ATIQ-UR-REHMAN 0.13 4. CU: PEOPLE SURROUNDING
  • Embargoed: 9th July 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KARACHI, PAKISTAN
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Reuters ID: LVAACR8IBG6QFLZSHM165PJHUMZM
  • Story Text: Muslim clerics gunned down in drive-by shooting in
    Karachi.


    Gunmen killed two Sunni Muslim clerics in a drive-by
    shooting in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi late on
    Thursday in a suspected sectarian attack.

    The clerics were returning from a mosque after
    attending a religious sermon when unknown assailants,
    riding on a motorcycle, opened fire on their vehicle in the
    centre of the sprawling city.

    The clerics, identified as Mufti Atiq-ur-Rehman and
    Mufti Irshad, died instantly. Irshad's son, who was also
    with them, suffered serious injuries.

    No one claimed responsibility but police suspect
    sectarian militants could be behind the attack.

    The clerics were said to be close associates of Mufti
    Nizamuddin Shamzai, a leading Sunni Muslim cleric who was
    gunned down in the city last year.

    Thousands of people have been killed in tit-for-tat
    attacks by Sunni Muslim and Shi'ite Muslim militants over
    the past decade and half. More than 100 people have been
    killed in the past year alone.

    Most Muslims in Pakistan are Sunnis. Shi'ites account
    for around 15 percent of the country's 150 million
    population.

    Sunnis and Shi'ites largely live in peace in Pakistan
    but a number of sectarian groups emerged in the late 1970s
    when then military ruler General Zia-ul-Haq launched an
    Islamisation drive in the country.

    Differences between the Sunnis and Shi'ites date back
    to a controversy which erupted over who should succeed
    Prophet Mohammad after his death in the 7th century.
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