Unrest in Balochistan: Four gunned down in Quetta sectarian attacks

The victims belonged to the Shia Hazara community

QUETTA: Four men were killed and eight others, including two women, injured on Monday in three gun attacks apparently motivated by sectarian hatred. The outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi sectarian outfit claimed responsibility for the attacks in a phone call to Quetta-based media outfit.

In view of the attacks, the provincial home department has enforced a seven-day ban on pillion riding in the provincial capital, said a spokesman for the police.

He said the assailants on motorcycles had fired gunshots in the Fatima Jinnah Road, Saleem Complex and MA Jinnah Road areas, adding that the attacks were carried out on sectarian grounds.

“Four people, including three belonging to the Hazara community, were killed and eight others wounded in the attacks,” said SSP Operations Aitzaz Goraya, adding that two women were among the injured.

The first attack took place on Fatima Jinnah Road, where a trader identified as Anwar Ali Hazara was shot dead in the morning.

Members of the Hazara community staged a demonstration against the murder. They also resorted to aerial firing and forced the shopkeepers to pull down their shops’ shutters.

Within a few minutes, all business activities in Liaquat Bazaar, MA Jinnah Road and Masjid Road areas and adjacent markets came to a standstill, as the roads wore a deserted look.

However, three people were gunned down and eight others wounded in two consecutive incidents of gun violence.

“Gunmen opened fire in the Saleem Complex area, where two people of the Hazara community were killed and four others, including two women, wounded,” police said.

Minutes later, unidentified assailants opened fire in the Kabir Building area on MA Jinnah Road, leaving a man dead and four others injured.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2015.