Senior professor shot dead in Balochistan

Saba Dashtiari was senior professor at the Urdu department of Balochistan University.

QUETTA: Gunmen killed a senior university professor in a drive-by shooting Wednesday, police said in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan.

Saba Dashtiari, 55, was shot dead as he came out of the university in the provincial capital Quetta for a routine evening walk with a student, senior police officer Ghulam Hussain said.

"The gunmen riding on a motorbike sprayed bullets on him and fled. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead," Hussain told AFP, adding that the student was unhurt.

Dashtiari was senior professor at the Urdu department of Balochistan University.

It was a targeted killing, the police official said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the murder.

Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has seen an upswing in violence recently, with the province suffering from a separatist insurgency, sectarian violence and Taliban militants.

Hundreds of people have died since rebels rose up in 2004 demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the region's natural oil, gas and mineral resources.