QUETTA: Five members of the Shia Hazara community were injured when gunmen on two motorcycles attacked their vehicle near the Killi Mubarak area on Spiny Road on Friday.

The outlawed Lashkar-i-Jhangvi Al-Aalami claimed responsibility for the attack.

The injured were identified as Sahib Ali, Najeebullah, Javed Ali, Nazam Ali and Irfan Ali.

Police officials said that the five Shia Hazara men were coming to Marriabad from Hazara Town when they were attacked.

“Some armed men on two motorcycles opened fire with automatic weapons on a yellow cab on Spiny Road, leaving the five men injured,” Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Abdul Razzak Cheema told Dawn.

“It appears to be an attack of sectarian nature,” he said. Soon after the incident, police and personnel of the Frontier Corps reached the area and took the injured to the Bolan Medical College Hospital Complex.

Later, the injured were taken to the Combined Military Hospital, Quetta.

“The condition of two injured people is serious as they have suffered multiple bullet injuries,” hospital sources said.

The sources denied any death in the incident, claiming that media reports about the killing of four people in the incident were “untrue”.

The gunmen escaped from the scene after the attack.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2017