Islamabad: At least 18 Shia Muslims,
including a woman, have been gunned down by unidentified
assailants in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta,
triggering strong protests by members of the minority
community who torched vehicles and shops.
Gunmen shot dead 11 members of the Hazara Shia
community who were headed to work in a pick-up vehicle, in a
sectarian attack in the capital of Balochistan Province on Saturday.
With today's killings, the toll in the violence
targeting the minority community has risen to 18 since
yesterday.
According to media reports, a woman was among the 11
people killed on Sunday and four others were injured.
The attack came a day after seven Shia devotees, who
were heading to Iran to visit religious places, were killed by
gunmen in Quetta.
The banned extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has
claimed responsibility for yesterday's attack.
A spokesman for the group, who was identified as Ali
Sher Haidri, said the attack was in retaliation for the murder
of Sunni scholar Maulvi Karim, who was killed in Quetta in a
firing incident on Thursday.
After the attack, hundreds of Shia Muslims gathered on
Barori Road in protest, chanting slogans against the
government and the police for their failure to check sectarian
killings.
The angry protesters also blocked the main road.
They torched vehicles and shops outside a hospital,
where several bodies of the slain persons were taken along and
the injured persons admitted.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, July 30, 2011, 18:06