QUETTA: Two people belonging to the Shia Hazara community were gunned down here on Wednesday evening.

The two were sitting in their cloth shop in a shopping plaza in MeCongi road area when they were shot dead. Another person was injured in the attack.

Soon after the incident, markets and business establishments were closed and panic gripped the area. Traffic vanished from the roads.

Know more: Quetta killings: Grand operation to be launched, says Bugti

According to sources, the unidentified attackers entered the cloth shop in the plaza, located in front of the City Police Station, and started firing with automatic weapons, killing the two men on the spot.

Police quoted eyewitness as saying that the armed men had attacked one man on the stairs of the building when he tried to escape. “Both the victims received multiple bullet injuries,” police said. The assailants fled on a motorbike.

Police and Frontier Corps personnel took the dead and the injured to the Combined Military Hospital. “The condition of the injured is serious,” hospital officials said.

The deceased were identified as Mohammad Arif and Mohammad Hussain and the injured as Mohammad Essa.

No arrest was reported till late night.

Three people belonging to the Hazara community were shot dead in Quetta three days ago.

Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch condemned the killing and said the elements involved should be brought to book.

“Strict action will be taken against the elements involved in the target killing,” he said.

The chief minister expressed sympathy with the bereaved families and promised all possible help to them.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2015

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