2 Hazaras shot dead in Quetta

Police say the attack was motivated by sectarian hatred

QUETTA: Two members of the Shia Hazara community were shot dead in Quetta on Monday in an attack motivated by sectarian hatred.

Police said Muhammad Nabi and Ghulam Nabi were travelling home in an auto rickshaw when they were targeted by two gunmen near the Government Degree College on Sariab Road in the Goharabad area. The men had earlier reached the Hazarganji area from Mach district in a passenger wagon.

Both the victims suffered multiple bullet wounds and died on the spot. The rickshaw driver remained unhurt in the attack.

The corpses were handed over to the families after medico-legal formalities at the Civil Hospital. Noor Baloch, a police surgeon, told AFP the victims were shot in the head.

Police said the attack was motivated by sectarian hatred. A case has been registered against unnamed suspects. Abdullah Jan Afridi, a senior police officer, told AFP the men worked as labourers in a coalmine.

Balochistan Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri condemned the attack and ordered immediate arrest of the perpetrators. Security forces launched a search operation in the Sariab area and took some suspects into custody. They were shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation.

Earlier in June, five people belonging to the Hazara community were gunned down in Quetta’s Circular Road area near Meezan Chowk. In three similar attacks, three Hazaras were killed and nine others, including two women, injured in May.

Constable killed

In a separate attack, a Levies constable was gunned down in the Keechi Baig area of Quetta late Sunday night.

Police sources said motorcycle riding gunmen opened fire at a medical store, seriously injuring the security officer. The attackers had their faces covered.

Police shifted the injured, identified as Muhammad Arif Rind, to the Civil Hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.  No group immediately claimed responsibility for the killing while police have registered a case against unidentified suspects.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 2^nd, 2016.