IS claims attack on Christian family in Quetta

QUETTA: The militant group Islamic State Tuesday claimed responsibility for killing four members of a Christian family in Pakistan. A statement issued by the group claimed that militants belonging to ISIS fired on the group of Christians as they were travelling in the city of Quetta, killing four Monday.

Islamic State has affiliates in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, many drawn from existing Islamist militant groups, who support their vehement sectarian views against Shi’ite Muslims and non-Muslims. The family was travelling in a rickshaw when armed men on a motorcycle intercepted them and opened fire in Quetta. The family had come to visit relatives in Quetta’s Shah Zaman Road area, where a large number of city’s Christian community lives. “It appears to have been a targeted attack,” Balochistan IG Moazzam Jah Ansari told the news agency.