Karachi: At least 14 people, mostly women and children, were injured when a speeding car rammed into a Shia religious congregation in Pakistan’s Karachi city, police said on Monday, June 22.
The incident occurred on Sunday, June 21, when people had gathered at an Imambargah (Shia religious place) for a Muharram congregation in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority area, police said.
Eleven women and three children, who had come for the congregation, were injured when the vehicle rammed into them.
Police have taken into custody the vehicle’s driver and two other passengers. They are investigating whether it was an accident or an intentional act targeting the gathering.
The van driver claimed the vehicle’s brake failed and he lost control of it, senior police official Rashid Ali said.
“The driver and two other persons in the vehicle have been taken into custody and are being questioned to find out whether the accident was deliberate or they lost control,” Ali said and added one of the passengers was also seriously injured.
In the past, Shia Muslim Muharram processions and Imambargahs have been targeted by radical Sunni Muslim outfits in deadly terror attacks.
