Suspected pro-Taliban militants shot and killed four Shia Muslims in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday in what appeared to be a second deadly sectarian attack in as many days.

Pakistan has a history of sectarian violence between militants from the majority Sunni community and minority Shia and a recent spate of attacks could be the work of pro-Taliban militants seeking to open a new front, a Shia leader said.

In Tuesdays attack, gunmen opened fire from a car at a group of men in the main market of the town of Hangu.

“The men were from the same family and were killed on the spot. It appears to be a sectarian attack,” said a senior police official.

The attack came a day after four Shia Muslims were killed in a bomb attack on a mosque in the north-western town of Dera Ismail Khan. Four other Shia Muslims and a policeman were killed in a drive-by shooting late last month.

Separately on Tuesday, police in Hangu found the body of a Shia Muslim taxi driver who was kidnapped last week.

A Shia political leader said pro-Taliban militants based in tribal regions on the Afghan border, who are hardline Sunnis, were likely behind the violence.

“Its shocking ... It could be the work of militants fighting in tribal areas who may want to open a new front or foreign hands who want uncertainty in Pakistan,” said Abdul Jalil Naqvi, a leader of a Shia party, the Islami Tehrik.