Bombing ends lull in violence against minority

KARACHI, March 13,2014 (Moniza Inam / UPI Next) — A Jan. 22 suicide bombing that killed dozens of Shiite Muslim pilgrims on a bus near Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s Balochistan province, ended a yearlong lull in violence against the country’s Hazara minority, which has suffered attacks in this Sunni-majority country for years.

The Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the latest carnage, which set off demonstrations across the country.

The Hazaras are predominately Shiite Muslims who for a century have migrated eastward from the Afghan mountains, and have suffered targeted killings, suicide attacks and economic boycotts for more than a decade in the Quetta region. Some consider them foreign agents or heretics because of their easily recognizable dark Mongol features and Farsi dialect.

Early last year, 155 Hazaras were killed in two suicide attacks.

Read more Bombing ends lull in violence against Pakistani minority – UPI.com.