QUETTA, March 24: Seven people, a woman and a cleric among them, were gunned down in different areas of Balochistan on Saturday.

According to police, gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on Qari Abdul Basit, Imam of a mosque in Balochi Street area, when he was going home after leading prayers. He was seriously injured and rushed to the Civil Hospital, but died of his injuries.

According to doctors, he was struck by three bullets in the head. Soon after the incident, a large number of people took to the streets and started burning tyres on roads to express their outrage over the killing.

The administration sprang into action and deployed a heavy contingent of police and Balochistan Constabulary at important places of the provincial capital.

Two people were shot dead near Chaki Shahwani area of Sariab late in the evening.

Gul Ahmed Alizai and Adam Khan were passing through the area when armed men riding a motorcycle opened fire on them. They died on the spot.

Their bodies were later handed over to their families. Police said the victims ran a dairy farm.

In another incident, armed men shot dead a man, identified as Jamil Rind, in Killi Deba area.

In Kashmira Bad area, armed men barged into the house of one Fahim Khan and killed his wife Asiya. She was alone at the house.

Police failed to ascertain motives behind the five killings. “We are investigating the incidents,” DIG (operations) Qazi Wahid said.

PILGRIMS: Two pilgrims were killed and eight others injured when a pick-up carrying them came under an attack in Kohlu area.

The injured included four women and two children of to one family.

Levies sources said that a group of 10 people from Gazani Nadi area were going to the shrine of Mast Tawakli, in Kohlu, when gunmen riding motorcycles opened indiscriminate fire on the vehicle, killing two of them on the spot and injuring eight others.

The injured were taken to the Kohlu district hospital and later shifted to Multan because of serious wounds.

The dead were identified as Bahadur Shah and Lal Khan.