Seven people, including a minor girl, were gunned down while six others received bullet injuries in an ambush on a group of Shias in the provincial capital on Wednesday. The dead included five Shias and two passers-by. The banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Police officials said a group of vegetable traders of the Hazara community were coming from the main vegetable market in Hazarganji, in the outskirts of Quetta, when unidentified armed assailants opened indiscriminate fire on their vehicle near Mir Gahi Khan Chowk in Sariab area. As a result, five people were killed on the spot while eight others, including a minor girl, were injured.
The bodies and the injured were shifted to Bolan Medical Complex Hospital, where two of the injured, including the little girl, Tahira, succumbed to their injuries. Persian speaking Hazara people are often targeted for their Shia beliefs. It is the second such incident in the current month. Meanwhile Ali Sher Haideri, spokesman for banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, claimed responsibility for the attack. Later, activists of the Hazara Democratic Party staged a demonstration outside the Quetta Press Club to protest the killings.
They demanded the chief justice of Pakistan and humanitarian organisations take notice of the violation of human rights across Balochistan and help stop the killing of Shias.
