GILGIT - Complete strike was observed in Gilgit-Baltistan on Friday over the massacre of local people in Mansehra.
Unidentified armed wearing military uniform on Thursday had stopped four buses in the Babusar Top area of Mansehra and searched the identification documents of the passengers after pulled them off the vehicles. Later, they killed the people belonging to the Shia community.
Shops and business centres in the region remained closed on the call by the Shia Ulama Council with normal routine activities suspended at the government and private offices.
The Shia Ulama Council also staged protest demonstrations after Friday prayers in different cities, including Gilgit.
It is worth mentioning that the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah had also announced three-day mourning from Friday over the barbaric incident.
Meanwhile, the bodies of 18 victims of Babusar tragedy have been transported to Chilas after necessary process, including post-mortem and legal proceedings. Body of Tahir, another victim of Babusar terror hit, has been shifted to Gujar Khan.
A joint inquiry team of the federal, Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments will probe the incident to identify the culprits.
On the other hand, the Taliban militants from Darra Adam Khel led by Tariq Afridi have already claimed responsibility for the killings.
The Mansehra carnage is not the first incident of this nature, as dozens of Shia people were shot dead in a similar fashion in the Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on two previous occasions.