QUETTA: Four persons, including a schoolteacher, were killed Monday in two different incidents of firing in Balochsitan’s insurgency-hit Khuzdar district, a levies officials said.

A Levies official, who declined to be named, told Dawn.com that armed motorcyclists opened fire at a schoolteacher in the district’s Zehri town. He said the teacher was killed on the spot whereas the assailants sped away on their motorcycle.

The teacher gunned down by the militants was identified as Nadeem Memon from Karachi.

In a separate incident, three persons including a levies official were killed in an exchange of fire in Khuzdar's Khand area. Muhammad Riaz, a levies official, said three armed men opened fire at the official and killed him on the spot.

He said an armed colleague of the official quickly retaliated and opened fire, killing two gunmen on the spot. However, one attacker sustained serious bullet wounds and was taken into custody by security personnel.

Riaz said motive behind the incident could not be immediately ascertained. The bodies were rushed to Civil Hospital Khuzdar for postmortem.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either killings on Tuesday.

Khuzdar is considered to be on the most sensitive districts of Balochistan, plagued by growing sectarianism and a separatist insurgency. Incidents of targeted killings, bombings and kidnapping for ransom are said to be on a constant rise in the district.