QUETTA: Gunmen killed three policemen in a drive-by shooting on the outskirts of Quetta on Sunday, police said.

The shooting comes a day after gunmen on motorcycles shot dead eight men at a laundry in a busy area of Quetta, the capital of oil- and gas-rich Baluchistan province, before fleeing.

“Two gunmen riding a motorbike opened fire on a police mobile van, killing three policemen,” senior local police official, Sikandar Tareen, told AFP.

He said that the incident happened while the policemen were on a routine patrol in the area.

Another local police official Abdul Qayyum also confirmed the incident and casualties.

Police and security forces are frequently attacked in insurgency-plagued Baluchistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan.

There was no claim of responsibility for the latest incident, but Balochistan suffers from religious militancy, sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia Muslims and a separatist insurgency.

Baloch rebels rose up in the province in 2004, demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from oil, gas and mineral resources in the region.