Six found dead at Sufi shrine near Karachi

January 08, 2014 12:00 am | Updated May 13, 2016 07:58 am IST - ISLAMABAD:

Karachi police are investigating the deaths of six men whose bodies were found near a Sufi shrine near Gulshan-e-Maymar on the outskirts of the city on Tuesday.

The incident took place in a village near Gulshan-e-Maymar and six people who frequented the Ayub Shah Bukhari shrine were found dead, with their throats slit, according to news reports. The police said that they were possibly kidnapped and tortured before being killed.

There were reports that a note from the Pakistan Taliban was found near the bodies which warned people to stop visiting the shrine. But police did not confirm the authenticity of the note.

Karachi is in the throes of sectarian violence with daily killings and unrest. In the past the Taliban has targeted Sufi shrines.

AFP reports:

The Taliban denounce worship at shrines as a grave sin and have carried out many deadly bomb and suicide attacks against Sufis in recent years.

In one of the bloodiest episodes, at least 50 people were killed in April 2011 in a suicide attack on a shrine in the city of Dera Ghazi Khan.

Police have detained some suspects and sent the bloodstained knife for forensic tests.

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