Summary Sectarian violence has claimed thousands of lives in the country over the past decade.
QUETTA (Dunya News/AFP) - In a series of killings including an attack on individuals of the Hazara minority, a wave of terror has gripped Quetta once again as unknown assailants gunned down four people while wounding 6 others in three separate shooting incidents on Saturday. Two members of the country s Hazara Shia minority in southwestern Baluchistan province were gunned down according to officials said.
The attack on individuals of the Hazara community took place on Spini Road as they were travelling from the city centre of the provincial Quetta city to their home in the suburban Hazara town. The victims have identified as Izzatullah and Muhammad Hassan.
"Two unknown gunmen sprayed bullets on the van in which Izzatullah and Muhammad Hussain were travelling," Mukhtar Ahmed, chief of the local police station, told AFP.
"Izzatullah, who was driving the van was killed at the spot while Hussain died on the way to hospital. The gunmen fled from the scene after firing," Ahmed added.
Another senior police official Abdul Waheed Khattak confirmed the incident and said it mirrored similar shootings earlier this week.
"Two Hazara brothers were fired at on Friday near the same locality of Hazara town and one of them was killed while another is seriously injured. Likewise another member of the community was killed on Wednesday when he arrived at his auto workshop," Khattak said.
Provincial home secretary Akbar Durrani said authorities were concerned about the spate of attacks that appear to be targeting the Hazaras.
Meanwhile, suspects on a motorcycle opened indiscriminate fire as traders were closing their shops to return home on Patel Road. The firing killed an individual identified as Shamsullah and injured five others. The wounded have been identified as Naseebullah, Gul Rehman, Jabbar, Asadullah and Abdul Majeed.
In a similar incident at Gawalmandi, assailants shot dead an individual.
Members of the Hazara community have long been targeted by extremist militants. In early 2013, more than 180 people were killed in two suicide bombings in Quetta in one of the bloodiest attacks on the minority.
Sectarian violence has claimed thousands of lives in the country over the past decade.
There was a lull in attacks earlier this year after the Pakistani military launched a major offensive against militants across the country, blocking their sources of movement, communication and funding.
In July the leader of a militant group responsible for the country s worst sectarian atrocities was killed in a shoot-out with police, along with 13 other militants.
Baluchistan province has been rife with sectarian and separatist insurgencies. The mineral-rich province has long been targeted by militants, and has been the scene of several attacks against the Hazara community in previous years.
