QUETTA: Two assailants on a motorcycle Wednesday shot dead three welders at a shop in Quetta, in what police said was an ethnically motivated attack.

“Unknown gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead three welders at a shop and fled,” senior police official Abdul Razzaq Cheema told AFP.

He said it appeared to be an “ethnic” killing as the victims were from Punjab.

Aitzaz Goraya, another senior police official confirmed the shooting and casualties.

Police sources told Dawn.com that the killing took place at Quetta's Sirki Road adding that all the victims received multiple bullets.

The dead bodies were shifted to Civil Hospital Quetta for postmortem. Traffic was suspended and shopkeepers pulled down their shutters after the attack.

Levies constable shot dead:

In a separate incident, militants opened fire at a Levies check post in Balochistan's Pishin district, killing a Levies constable. The slain official was deployed at Badizai check post in Pishin.

The assailants managed to escape unhurt from the site in this incident as well.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks.