3 Hazaras among five killed as unknown gunmen open fire at vehicle in Quetta

F.P. Report

QUETTA: As many as five people were killed and one injured as unidentified gunmen targeted a vehicle carrying members of the Hazara community on the city’s Kasi Road early Monday.

According to police officials, the deceased include the vehicle’s driver and a passerby as well — both not Hazara. The victims were on their way to Sabzi Mandi from Mariabad when their vehicle was targeted by the unknown assailants, who were riding a motorcycle.

The gunmen escaped unhurt after carrying out the attack, which appears to be an act of targeted killing, police officials added. The bodies and injured were shifted to a nearby hospital.

Later, four of the bodies were handed over to their families in Quetta, hospital officials said, adding that one of the deceased is still in the morgue as he hails from Shangla, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Hazara community members were identified as Mohammad Ali, Khadim Hussain and Syed Sarwar while the passerby was identified as Saleh Mohammad.

Police and other law enforcement agencies personnel reached the site after the incident and started an investigation. Balochistan CM Nawaz Sanaullah Zehri condemned the incident and ordered an inquiry into it. No one claimed responsibility for the target killing.

Sectarian violence has claimed thousands of lives in Pakistan over the past decade. Hundreds of ethnic Hazaras, who are Shias by sect, have been killed in targeted bombings and drive-by shootings over the past few years in Balochistan.

Members of the persecuted Shia Hazara community are often targeted in Quetta. The minority Hazara Shia community in Balochistan has been experiencing incidents of violence and targeted killings for more than a decade.