QUETTA: Two members of the Shia Hazara community were killed and another was injured in an attack in the Western Bypass area of the city on Sunday.

It is the third incident of target killings of Hazara people in Quetta over the past three weeks.

Police said that the three Hazara men were going from Hazara Town to Akhtarabad area, a locality on the outskirts of the city, on two motorcycles when unidentified gunmen also on a motorcycle opened fire on them and fled.

Superintendent of Police Syed Ataullah Shah said that all the three men received bullet injuries. Two of them died on the spot.

Soon after receiving information about the incident personnel of police and the Frontier Corps rushed to the area and shifted the bodies and the injured to the Bolan Medical College Hospital. The injured was later shifted to the Combined Military Hospital, Quetta.

The police identified the deceased as Muhammad Zaman and Muhammad Ali. The injured, who is a police constable, was identified as Safar Ali.

Quoting sources in the hospital, the police said that all the three victims received bullets in upper parts of the body. The condition of the injured is said to be serious.

According to sources, both the men who lost their lives in the incident were active members of Balochistan Shia Conference. The injured police constable was security guard of a senior leader of the Shia Conference.

A police official termed it an incident of sectarian killing.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2018