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Funeral underway for exchange student killed in Santa Fe High School shooting

Sabika Sheikh is being remembered at a funeral service at the ISGH Brand Lane Islamic Center in Stafford

The Islamic Society of Greater Houston is holding a funeral for Sabika Sheikh, the Pakistani student killed in the mass shooting at Santa Fe High School Friday.

WATCH LIVE: Funeral for Sabika Sheikh

The funeral is at the ISGH Brand Lane Islamic Center in Stafford.

Pakistani businessman Abdul Aziz Sheikh says he learned of the tragedy unfolding at a high school in Texas when he turned on the TV after iftar, the fast-breaking meal during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Realizing it was the school where his 18-year-old daughter, Sabika, was an exchange student, he flipped through channels trying to learn more and left her messages, but she didn't reply.

Photos: Victims killed in the mass shooting at Santa Fe High School

He called his daughter's friends, but they weren't responding either. It was only when he got reached the exchange program that he got the bad news: Sabika Khan was among the 10 people killed in Friday's mass shooting at Santa Fe High School, southeast of Houston.

Fighting back tears, her father told The Associated Press on Saturday in Karachi that Sabika was due home in about three weeks for the holiday marking the end of Ramadan. He says he thought she would be safe in the U.S.

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"The Islamic Society of Greater Houston shares the grief and sense of loss of life of students of Santa Fe school. We offer our deepest condolences and sympathies to all the victims' families," the Islamic Society said in a prepared statement.

"We offer our help to all the victims' families and urge our community members to pray and help the victims and their families."

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