Nine Hazaras killed in bus shooting near Quetta

Victims were unescorted by security and were at a market to buy vegetables before being gunned down

QUETTA: Unidentified men opened fire on a bus in the outskirts of Quetta on Thursday, killing eight people -- said to belong to the Hazara community -- and injuring one, in what is believed to be a sectarian attack.

The death toll reached nine after assailants shot dead another man from the Hazara community on Kirani Road—an hour after the Hazarganji incident.

Ten men were on the bus and were about to leave a vegetable market in the Hazar Ganji area when five men, who arived on two motorbikes, boarded the bus and opened fire.

"They killed a man outside the bus and others inside the bus. They were killed after they bought vegetables," informed SSP Imran Qureshi.

The victims were reportedly Shias belonging to the Hazara community.

Police and security forces quickly arrived and the area was cordoned off.

Capital Police Chief Quetta Abdul Razzaq Cheema confirmed the death toll following the incident. "Eight were killed and one is wounded. They came on the bus to buy vegetables," he told The Express Tribune. 

All the bodies and those injured were transported to the Combined Military Hospital Quetta.

SSP Imran Qureshi said said that security is always provided to people from the Hazara community when they come to buy vegetables from the Hazar Ganji area; however, on this occasion they came to the area without informing the police.