Prayer leader shot dead in broad daylight

JUI-F’s Mengal was going home after Zuhr prayers

QUETTA: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) senior member Maulvi Habibullah Mengal was gunned down by unidentified armed men on Saturday while he was going home after offering Zuhr prayers.

According to details, as soon as Habibullah reached the Arif Street area of Sariab Road leading towards his home, he was sprayed with bullets.

Police said, “Mengal, who was the prayer leader of Masjid-e-Bilal on Arif Street, was shot dead near the mosque and the attackers managed to escape after carrying out the attack.”



Rescue workers and police force reached the spot and cordoned off the entire area. The body was sent to the civil hospital for autopsy.

Doctors confirmed that the religious leader was shot multiple times in the chest and the head, which caused his instant death.

The JUI-F has strongly condemned the attack.

“The motive behind the attack has not yet been ascertained but we have commenced investigation. The attack might be a targeted killing one as rounds of 9mm pistol were recovered from the crime scene,” Sariab police station SHO confirmed.



There had been a brief pause in the incidents of targeted killings in Quetta, but since March this year there has been an uptick in such incidents.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Police have opened investigation into the killing of the religious scholar.