Two men belonging to the Shiite Hazara community were martyred in gun fire on Quetta’s Sariab Road area on Monday, police sources said.

Pakistan Taliban terrorists kill 2 Hazara Shia Muslims in Quetta

08/02/2016
QUETTA, Pakistan - AhlulBayt News Agency - Two men belonging to the Shiite Hazara community were martyred in gun fire on Quetta’s Sariab Road area on Monday, police sources said.
Ghulam Nabi and Mohammad Nabi were on their way home from Machh in a rickshaw when they were targeted near the Government Boys Degree College. Their bodies were later shifted to Civil Hospital, Quetta.
“Gunmen on a motorcycle stopped the rickshaw and then opened fire on them and fled the scene,” Abdullah Jan Afridi, a senior police officer in Quetta, told AFP.
Both victims were residents of Alamdar Road, an area dominated by a majority Hazara population.
Afridi said the pair were labourers in a coalmine. The rickshaw driver was unhurt in the attack in the Saryab road area.
“We are investigating the anti-Shia attack,” Afridi said.
Noor Baloch, a police surgeon in Civil Hospital Quetta, told AFP both victims were shot in the head.
Security agencies initiated investigation and forensic teams were collecting evidence from the site of the attack.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri condemned the attack and ordered immediate arrest of the attackers.
The unabated targeted attacks on innocent Hazaras, which are started after intervals, exhibit malign intention of the government to penetrate an environment of fear and insecurity among minorities. This is a shame that the government routinely issues condemnatory statements after these incidents without taking any practical steps against the culprits. The lack of serious efforts in arresting the terrorists and religious extremists glorifying such killings further show that the government is covertly supporting them.
The leaders of the banned terrorist organisation, ie., Ahle Sunnat Wal Jama’at (ASWJ) are sharing and enjoying the full support of the government and its security agencies as their inflammatory press statements provide breeding grounds for such inhumane attacks on minorities including Hazaras.
Taliban claims responsibility
Meanwhile, proscribed militant outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) affiliate group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the killing.
“The TTP JA members fired at two Shia Muslims,” the group’s spokesperson, Ehsanullah Ehsan said in a statement.
In June, five people belonging to the Hazara community were gunned down in Quetta’s Circular Road area near Meezan Chowk.
In similar attacks, three Hazara Shias were killed and nine others, including two women, were injured in three separate incidents of ‘sectarian’ violence in Quetta in May.


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