Pakistan: Gunmen kill 8 Shi’ite Muslims in Quetta

Quetta: Police say gunmen riding on a motorcycle have killed eight Shi’ite Muslims in a pair of sectarian attacks in southwest Pakistan.

Senior police officer Shaukat Ajmad said assailants opened fire on a car on Saturday, killing six people in Quetta, the capital of impoverished southwestern Baluchistan province.

Minutes later, they shot and killed two people in a rickshaw in the same area.

Shi’ite Muslims are a minority in overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim Pakistan.

Although most Sunni and Shi’ites live peacefully together, extremists from both sides have targeted each other over the past three decades. In recent years, Sunni attacks on Shi’ites have been far more common.

Bureau Report