On 28 December 2009 , as many as 40 Shias were killed in an apparent suicide bombing in Karachi . The bomber attacked a Shia procession that was held to mark Ashura . Since June 2010 in Karachi , Sipah-e-Sahaba is involved in the target killing of seven innocent bystanders and intellectuals ; all were from the Twelver Shia Muslim community . Sectarian riots and the targeted killing of doctors in the provincial capital have drawn attention to the present democratic system . Karachi had witnessed similar sectarian tension in the early 1980s when then-President Zia-ul-Haq was in power . The military regime of those years had supported certain groups to strengthen its rule and Karachi underwent the worst situation after the sectarian riots . The Shia-Sunni clashes had started from the same section of the city , Godra Colony in New Karachi , after a small incident , and subsequently the clashes gripped the entire city
an apparent suicide bombing in Karachi
2009 Karachi bombing
Sectarian violence in Pakistan