The bodies of 12 people killed in the Samjhauta Express blasts arrived in Pakistan on Thursday, including the remains of six members of the same family whose funeral drew thousands of mourners. The bodies were brought from Wagah by truck today morning.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the bodies of 21 Pakistanis killed in the attack had been identified. Five members of another Pakistani family were buried in India at their relatives’ request, the ministry said.

Ambulances brought the remains of 43-year-old tailor Syed Iftikhar Ali, his wife and two of their children to Buffer Zone, a working-class neighbourhood of Karachi dominated by Muslims. Dozens of relatives waited in the pre-dawn gloom — some in the street and others on rooftops — for the bodies to arrive. Men and women wailed and hugged each other as the coffins were unloaded and taken into the family’s home. Ali’s sister and brother-in-law also died in the attack, said Omar Ali, a 15-year-old son of the tailor. Their bodies were taken to a different district. The six had gone to India to attend a relative’s wedding in UP.

“My father, mother, brother and sister are all gone. What will I do?” Omar said in a voice choked with grief. He had stayed home in Karachi with another brother to prepare for exams.

“This is a big tragedy and no condemnation is enough to denounce it,” said Rauf Siddiqi, culture minister of Sindh province. “Its intensity will be felt by the entire nation for a long time.”