QUETTA, June 8: At least 11 police trainees were killed and 9 others injured when two armed men opened fire on their vehicle on Sariab Road on Sunday evening.

The trainees were on their way to police training school in a private pickup.

It could be a sectarian attack as the victims had no enmity with anybody, SSP Quetta Rahmatullah Niazi said.

Sources said 23 police trainees visited their homes on Sunday morning. After meeting their families they gathered at a place in the city and hired a pickup to go back to training school.

The pickup when reached near Tariq Hospital at Sariab Road two armed men riding on a motorcycle opened fire on the vehicle, killing 11 recruits and injuring nine others. Later, the assailants fled.

Soon after the incident police reached the spot and removed the victims to the Civil Hospital. “Eleven recruits died on the spot,” Dr Abdullah of the Civil Hospital said and added that condition of three injured was serious.

“We were half-a-kilometre from the training school when I heard a fire and then saw a bearded man firing on the vehicle with a Kalashnikov,” Zakir Hussain, a police recruit, told this correspondent in Civil Hospital.

“I was sitting in the rear portion of the vehicle and as soon as the firing began I took refuge under the seat of the vehicle which saved me from bullets,” he added.

Zakir Hussain, who escaped unhurt in attack, said when firing stopped he jumped out of the vehicle and requested the people to take the victims to the hospital but the people took no action.

“The attackers had not masked their faces at the time of attack,” a witness Ahmed Ali told reporters.

According to hospital sources, all victims received multiple bullets wounds.

Soon after the incident, hundreds of people belonging to the Hazara tribe gathered at the hospital and started chanting slogans against the government.

Governor Balochistan Lt-Gen Abdul Qadir (retired) and Provincial Minister for Sports and Forest Younas Changezi visited the hospital. The governor expressed his sorrow over the incident and ordered the authorities to arrest the killers within 24 hours.

He condemned the terrorist attack and described it an inhuman act. He assured the people of Hazara tribe that all possible efforts would be made for the early arrest of the accused.

Younas Changezi also condemned the killing of police recruits and said he would quit his cabinet post in protest.

The SSP Quetta, Rahmatullah Niazi, told reporters that all entry and exit points had been sealed, while teams had been constituted for the arrest of culprits. He said terrorists would be arrested soon.

Meanwhile, the governor has announced Rs500,000 compensation each for the families of those who died in the incident while injured would paid Rs250,000 each.

The police recruits killed in the firing were identified as Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Jawad, Abdul Hussain, Mohammad Nabi, Sajjad Ali, Abid Ali, Mohammad Baqar, Pervez Ali, Mohammad Abbas, Zakir Hussain and Ghulam Abbas,

The injured included Mohammad Arif, Ali Raza, Abdul Aziz, Abdul Hussain, Mohammad Ali, Akbar Ali, Ghulam Hussain, Shaukat Ali and Mohammad Aqeel.

President of a trade organization Amaruddin Agha has announced that a complete strike would be observed in the city on Monday to protest against the tragic incident.