QUETTA: Armed militants killed two more Shiite people Sariab road area of Quetta, the capital of volatile Balochistan province on Saturday night, police said.
Imran Qureshi, the Superintendent of Police Sariab Road said that armed militants singled out two members of Shia community from a passenger bus and opened fire on them from a very close range.
He said one person was killed on the spot while the other succumbed to his wounds on his way to hospital. The attackers sped away on their motorcycles after the firing.
“The incident as an act of targeted killing,” Qureshi said. The passenger bus was preparing to leave for Karachi when intercepted by militants, he added.
Police and personnel of Frontier Corps (FC) reached the spot and launched an initial investigation into the incident.
“It is an act of sectarian terrorism,” police said.
The dead bodies of the victims were rushed to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) for medico-legal formalities.
The incident took place four days after at least 17 people were killed in a blast at Sibi railway station in the province.
The new killings came as Pakistanis laid to rest Ghulam Haider, a Shia Muslim doctor shot dead by unknown gunmen while on his way home in the port city of Karachi on Friday.
In a similar act of violence on April 10, two Shia Muslim doctors, identified as Qasim Abbas and Haider Raza, as well as Shia lawyer Waqar Shah and a young man were assassinated by unknown attackers in Karachi.
Pro-Taliban militants target the Shia community in Pakistan on a regular basis, attacking doctors and lawyers as well as religious gatherings.
Shia Muslims in Pakistan say the government must take decisive actions against the extremist Takfiri groups involved in the targeted killings. They also accuse Islamabad of failing to provide security for the Muslim community.
Reports say the terrorist group of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) has been behind most of the attacks on Shia Muslims in the country.
The killing of Shias has caused an international outrage, with rights groups and regional countries expressing concern over the ongoing deadly violence.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticized Pakistan for its failure to protect Shia Pakistanis, urging Islamabad to hold accountable those responsible for ordering and participating in the bloody assaults on the Shia community.
Quetta remained under the grip of sectarian attacks for last more than a decade. A large number of members of Hazara community have been killed in targeted killings and suicide attacks.
/129