CHILAS: Funeral prayer for nine passengers who were martyred in an incident of firing on a bus in a suburban village of Chilas yesterday was offered on Sunday.

A large number of people, including Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) chief minister and Force Commander GB, offered the prayer.

On the other hand, preparations are underway to send bodies of the deceased to their ancestral homes, while FIR of the incident had not been registered till last reports came in.

Unidentified persons had opened fire at the bus in village Hidor of Chilas located on Karakoram Highway last night, resulting in the deaths of nine people and injuries to 26 others.

The injured were shifted to a hospital in Gilgit.

Also on Sunday, Interior Minister Sarfaraz Ahmad Bugti has strongly condemned firing at a bus in Chilas.

Expressing deep grief and sorrow over the deaths, he said attacking innocent citizens was an act of cowardice. “Anti-state elements are bent upon creating law and order situation in GB,” he said, adding, “The sacrifices of the people of Pakistan against war on terror will not go in vain.”