Nine killed in Quetta twin attacks

QUETTA: Four members of a Christian family were gunned down among nine in twin attacks in Quetta on Monday.

In the first attack against a Christian family, the family was travelling in a rickshaw when armed men on a motorcycle opened fire on them on Quetta’s Shah Zaman Road. A woman was rushed to hospital. Her father and three cousins were killed in the attack.

Law enforcement agencies reached the site of the incident soon after the incident and shifted the bodies to Civil Hospital. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack; moreover, police have also been unable to ascertain any reason for the incident.

“It appears to have been a targeted attack,” Balochistan IG Moazzam Jah Ansari said. “It was an act of terrorism,” he added. The attack comes a day after Pakistan’s Christian community celebrated Easter on Sunday.

Meanwhile five people, including a Levies official, were killed, while five others sustained injuries in a clash between two groups in the Qambarani Road area. According to police sources, two groups opened fire at each other, killing four and injuring seven people. The bodies of Takri Ghulam Rasool Bangulzai, Bashir Ahmed, Abdul Hameed, Levies official Naveed Ahmed and the injured were despatched to the Civil Hospital.

One of the injured Amanullah succumbed to his injuries during the treatment. The bodies of the deceased were handed over to the heirs after completion of medico- legal formalities. The three injured were identified as Pir Muhammad, Machi Khan and Abdul Hameed, while the others were not yet identified.