Five Shia Muslims gunned down in southwestern Pakistan
A group of heavily-armed militants have gunned down at least five Shia Muslims in Pakistan's troubled southwestern province of Balochistan.
Local Pakistani security authorities said on Sunday that the casualties were caused after militants opened fire on members of Shia Hazara community in an area of Quetta, the capital of restive Balochistan Province.
Sources said the attackers managed to flee the scene before the arrival of police and paramilitary forces.
The law enforcement agencies have yet not provided further details regarding the incident.
Local residents say hundreds of Shia Muslims and civil activists are now holding a rally in the volatile city, condemning the incident.
Militants have shot dead several members of Shia Hazara community in separate attacks in recent days across the troubled city.
On May 27, militants shot dead at least two Shia Hazra Muslims in a congested market in central Quetta after three members of Shia Hazara community were killed in a shooting by unidentified attackers two days earlier.
The attacks came after pistol-wielding gunmen massacred nearly 50 Ismaili Shia Muslims in the southern port city of Karachi on May 13.
Quetta, the largest and capital city of Balochistan, has seen several militant attacks over the past years. Two militant attacks against Shia Hazara community in Quetta killed nearly 200 people in early 2013.
The country’s Shia Muslims have demanded that the Islamabad government take decisive action against the forces involved in the killings, saying that Islamabad cannot provide security for the community.
International organizations and human rights groups have also expressed serious concerns over the ongoing deadly violence against Shia Muslim across Pakistan.
JR/HMV/SS
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