Source: Dawn
QUETTA: Pakistan has suspended buses carrying Shia Muslim pilgrims from travelling through its volatile Balochistan province to neighbouring Iran due to security concerns after a suicide attack killed 30 pilgrims this week, officials said on Friday.
A 700 km highway connecting the Pakistani city of Quetta and Iran, home to many Shia pilgrimage sites, has seen dozens of suicide and roadside bomb attacks claimed by radical Islamist groups.
“We have temporarily suspended the movement of buses on the highway until the security situation improves,” a senior official of the provincial government told Reuters.
Sectarian attacks are on the rise in Pakistan, where minority Shias make up about 20 per cent of the 180 million people.
Categories: Asia