KARACHI: With tears and overwhelming grief, friends and loved ones performed the final rites of the 43 ill-fated men and women who were gunned down mercilessly in Karachi’s Safoora Goth area a day earlier.Two more injured passengers belonging to the Ismaili community succumbed to their wounds on Thursday taking the death toll to a grisly 45.Karachi and Sukkur are observing a day of mourning to to express solidarity with the targeted Ismaili community over the massacre that left has shocked the nation.

Read: 43 killed in attack on bus carrying Ismailis in Karachi

Funeral prayers of 43 the carnage victims were offered in Safoora Goth’s Al – Azhar Garden area of the provincial capital city.

Six gunmen stopped the bus, which was carrying members of the Ismaili community, near Safoora Chowk and first fired at it from outside, according to a police official. Then the assailants entered inside the bus and open fire indiscriminately.

The bus was carrying more than 50 people at the time of the attack.

Read: Attack on Ismaili community

The attack was claimed by the Jundullah splinter group of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan which had recently pledged support to Islamic State (IS).

Sindh and Punjab provincial governments and the federal government had announced a day of mourning over the tragedy.

Condemnations poured in from across the country while Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif cancelled his visit to Sri Lanka and departed for Karachi after the attack. He also called Prince Karim Agha Khan and offered his condolences.