KARACHI: A bomb struck a bus taking Shia Muslims to a protest rally near Karachi’s Safari Park on University Road on Friday, killing one man and wounding 11 others, police said.

The attack came one day after 20 Shias were hauled out of vehicles in the northwest and shot dead by gunmen dressed in military fatigues.

“A low-intensity bomb planted near a bus stand in Gulistan-e-Jauhar neighbourhood exploded and hit a car and a bus,” senior police official Shahid Hayat told AFP.

“The bomb killed a man in the car and injured 11 others, most of whom were bus passengers,” Hayat said.

The bus was carrying around 40 Shias to a rally marking solidarity with the Palestinians and to demonstrate against Thursday's sectarian killings.

Police said it was unclear if the Shias were targeted in Karachi.

“We can't say it was aimed at the bus as the bomb mainly hit the car. But we are investigating,” said a police official on the condition of anonymity.

Karachi is Pakistan's financial capital. Ethnic, sectarian and politically-linked violence has killed at least 1,100 people so far this year in the city, according to Pakistan's leading human rights organisation.