DERA ISMAIL KHAN, May 10: Gunmen killed three people in a drive-by attack here on Saturday.

Officials said that masked assailants on a motorbike entered a grocery shop in Misgaran Bazaar at 9am and opened indiscriminate fire, killing shop owner Mazhar Abbas, his friend Tanveer and customer Khadim Hussain.

“All the victims were Shias,” DPO Abdul Ghafoor Qasarani told Dawn, adding that their relatives had lodged a complaint against activists of the proscribed Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan. An FIR was registered against Aslam alias Aslami, Altaf, Sulaman Isra, Habibullah Astrana, Timur Baloch and Master Aslam of the banned religious organisation.

Police were conducting raids to arrest them, he said.

Soon after the incident, people took to the streets and blocked the main road. Local people said the protesters, who were chanting slogans against the local administration and police, demanded early arrest of the assailants. Shops were closed in the area.

The DPO said that a ban had been imposed on pillion-riding in the city. Reinforcements were called from other parts of the district to avert sectarian clashes.