Gunmen kill seven Shias in Quetta: Police

QUETTA: Gunmen shot dead seven Shias in two separate incidents in Balochistan on Saturday, police said. The incidents took place near Quetta.

"Four gunmen riding two motorbikes intercepted a bus near Hazar Ganji area, pulled five Shia vegetable sellers off the vehicle and shot them dead," senior local police official Wazir Khan Nasir told AFP.

He said in a second incident, two motorbike riders sprayed bullets at two Shias in the Hazar Ganji area, on the outskirts of Quetta, killing both of them.

Another local police official Mukhtar Musakhel confirmed the incident and casualties.

Nobody has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks.

FC given police powers for two months

The provincial government of Balochistan on Saturday decided to delegate powers of the police to the Frontier Corps in a bid to improve the law and order situation particularly after several incidents of targeted sectarian killings in the province.

FC personnel can now make arrests, search houses and detain people for questioning, an official said.