Accessibility links

Breaking News

Famous Sufi Singer Killed In Pakistan


Pakistani Qawwali singer Amjad Sabri
Pakistani Qawwali singer Amjad Sabri

Gunmen have shot dead one of Pakistan's best-known Sufi singers in the southern port city of Karachi.

Police said Amjad Sabri was travelling by car on June 22 when he was shot several times by unknown assailants on a motorcycle.

A relative travelling with him was wounded.

Following the attack, neighbors gathered outside the singer's home to offer their condolences to his relatives, while television channels broadcast recordings of his music in tribute.

Sabri, 45, and his late father, Ghulam Farid Sabri, were well-known qawwali singers, a style of music rooted in Sufism, or Islamic mysticism.

Hard-line Islamic groups such as the Taliban reject Sufi traditions as heretical and have targeted Sufis in past attacks.

Karachi is frequently hit by religious, political, and ethnic violence, with attacks carried out by Islamic militants, separatists, and criminal groups.

Based on reporting by Dawn, AFP, Reuters, and AP
XS
SM
MD
LG