ISIS takes credit for terror attack in Pakistan that killed 43 people. Yahoo/AFP.

The bus that was attacked. Yahoo/AFP.

ISIS has taken credit for a terror attack in Karachi Pakistan that killed 43 Shiite Muslims. Yahoo/AFP. Six terrorists attacked a bus carrying the Shiite Muslims using 9mm pistols to kill 43 people and wounded 13 more. ISIS released a statement claiming credit via Twitter. ISIS also left leaflets on the scene claiming credit for the attack. Another terrorist group, Jundullah, took credit as well, though they are believed to be an ISIS affiliate. Sectarian violence targeting Shiite Muslims has increased lately. ISIS has become more active in Pakistan and have released fliers and graffiti supporting their cause. 

My Comment:

As always, when ISIS takes credit for a terrorist attack, take it with a grain of salt. Many times they take credit for things they haven't done. I don't think that is the case here though. After all, they found ISIS leaflets on the scene and the only other group to claim credit is an affiliate. Still, it always pay to be skeptical of ISIS claims. They like to lie and take credit for things they haven't done. 

I consider this a battle in a larger war between Sunni Islam and Shia Islam. Well, less of a battle and more of atrocity, but the point still stands. Tensions between the two religions are about as high as they can get. And though the tensions are high between Saudi Arabia and Iran, it is largely because they are fighting over religion. Both countries want to be the leader of the Islamic faith. So does ISIS, and ISIS considers followers of Shia Islam to be apostates. 

The fact that ISIS is now showing up in Pakistan is disturbing. Pakistan has a long history of Islamic terrorists but most of those were affiliated with Al-Qaeda. As brutal and terrible as Al-Qaeda are, they aren't as bad as ISIS. Their radical ideology seems to be resonating with a lot of different people and it seems to be popping up everywhere. 

This is a very bad thing because it means even if ISIS is defeated in their core territories in Iraq and Syria, their organization will still survive. ISIS is active not only in Pakistan, but in Libya and Egypt as well, and many brutal terrorist organizations, like Boko Haram, have sworn fealty to them. And that's not counting all the lone wolf terrorists, like the men who attacked Garland, Texas, who are inspired by the group. 

The  war against ISIS is rapidly becoming a global one. ISIS is no longer a local terrorist group. They are an international one and their ideology is become a global threat. I'm starting to think that any country that has a large population of Sunni Muslims, native, immigrant or converted, is threatened by the group. With such a powerful propaganda machine on Twitter, Facebook and other social media they have a larger reach then any other terrorist group. 

I'm not sure how you counter ISIS. You can, of course, destroy all the ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq but that doesn't solve the problem. Even if you go after their more minor outposts like Libya and Pakistan, they still have affiliate groups. And the threat of home grown terrorists is just as dangerous and hard to counter. I don't think there is a long term solution to this problem. For now, we should just expect terrorism and violence in the Middle East.