Four members of the minority Shia Hazara community were gunned down by motorcycle-borne assailants today in Pakistan's restive Baluchistan province.
Five Hazara men were sitting outside a tea shop at the Meezab roundabout on Quetta's Circular road when armed men on two motorcycles opened indiscriminate firing on them, killing two on the spot while two others expired on the way to the hospital.
One person remains critically injured, police officials said.
Yesterday, armed men on motorcycles also killed four policemen in the Pashtunabad area of Quetta.
Today's incident highlights the growing violence and killings unleashed by religious extremists and insurgents in the troubled Baluchistan province.
On May 29, heavily armed gunmen had killed 22 people travelling on a passenger bus to Karachi in the Mastung province.
City police officer Abdul Razzaq Cheema said police were investigating whether today's incident was a sectarian attack or not.
On May 27, unknown gunmen had also killed two Hazara men near Meezan roundabout in the city.
Members of the minority Hazara community which reside in large numbers in Quetta have frequently been the victims of sectarian attacks in recent times.
