Hundreds of Pakistani Shia Muslims protest against killings

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Hundreds of Pakistani Shiites Muslims Saturday staged a protest rally in the southwestern city of Quetta hours after gunmen shot and killed 11 Shia Muslims.      Gunmen shot dead 11 Shia Muslims in a sectarian-motivated attack on Spini road of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan Province, who were heading to work in a pick-up vehicle. The gunmen fled after the attack, which is the second targeted attack in Quetta, in two days. Seven Shia devotees were killed at a bus stop on Friday. The extremist outlawed group ‘Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’claimed responsibility for the Friday’s attack. Hundreds of Shia Muslims gathered on Barori Road and chanted slogans against the government and police for their failure to check sectarian and targeted killings. The angry protesters also blacked the main road. Unidentified men also burnt two vehicles, witnesses said. A Shia leader Rahim Jaffry said that Shia community will protest across the country if those responsible for the killings of Shia Muslims in Quetta were not arrested in 24 hours. He said that the government has failed to protect the lives of people and they have no option but to launch protest campaign. Shia groups also announced a 40-day mourning against the killing of their people. Dozens of people from Hazara Shia community and relatives rushed to the city’s main hospital after bodies and injured were shifted there. It is the second attack on Shia Muslims in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan Province, in two days. Gunmen had shot and killed seven Shia devotees in Quetta on Friday, who were heading to Iran to visit religious places, police said. The banned extremist group ‘Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’ had claimed responsibility for the Friday’s attack on the Shia devotees. Also on Friday, nephew of the provincial chief executive in Balochistan and another person were killed in a bomb attack in Mastung district. The bomb attack outside a football stadium also injured nearly 30 people, some 80 kilometers from Quetta, police said. Nawabzada Mir Akmal Raisanai, nephew of the Chief Minister Balochistan Province, Nawabzada Aslam Raisani, was injured in the attack who later died in a military hospital in Quetta of wounds./129