Mastung - Four Hazara community members including a woman were shot dead in a sectarian attack in Mastung on Wednesday morning.

The driver sustained bullet injuries in the gun attack. The assailants managed a good escape after committing the grisly act.

“Four people were gunned down in Mastung,” said District Police Officer SSP Ghazanfar Ali Shah.

The police sources said the assailants targeted a vehicle with four Hazara community members onboard at Regional Cooperation for Development Highway (RCD) near Chutho village of Mastung – the northwest district of Balochistan located some 49Km distance from Quetta. The vehicle was going to Karachi.

No one had claimed responsibility for the attack till filing of this report.

The police and Frontier Corps personnel rushed to the village after the incident and cordoned off the surrounding areas to apprehend the perpetrators, said the DPO Mastung. Fear gripped the area after the incident.

The Edhi teams shifted the dead bodies and wounded driver to Shaheed Ghaus Bakhsh Raisani Hospital Mastung for treatment and medico-legal proceedings.

The Edhi sources identified the victims of Mastung gun attack as Murtaza, Muhammad Asif, Ghulam Sarwar and Rukhsana Bibi –members of Hazara Shia community.  Abdul Satar, the driver, who survived bullet injuries was said to be from Hyderabad.

The bodies will later be transported to Quetta amidst tight security, said Ghazanfar Ali Shah, DPO Mastung.

The injured driver was shifted to Civil Hospital Quetta for better healthcare facilities, said Dr Waseem Baig, the spokesman of CHQ.

The wounded was admitted to Trauma Center, however, his condition was not out of danger, said Dr Waseem.

For years, Balochistan has witnessed dozens of sectarian-based terror attacks and suicide strikes on the Hazara Shia community members. The twin blasts in Quetta snooker hall left nearly 100 Hazara community members dead in Quetta on January 10, 2013. Hardly a month after, as the hapless people had not forgotten grisly act, another bloodbath was unleashed on Hazaras when explosive material planted in a water tank went of with a bang at Kirani Road on Feb 16, 2013 killing nearly 80 persons including women and children. The pilgrims mostly leaving for Iran have also been a target of the militants.

Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri and Home Minister Sarfraz Bugti denounced in harsh words the Mastung firing incident, and ordered the police high-ups to submit a detailed report of the incident.

The home minister termed the attack on woman against Islamic norms and Balochistan traditions. He said terrorists could not escape the law for a longtime.

AFP adds: The men sprayed bullets at the vehicle of the Hazara Shia family travelling to Karachi as they passed through Choto, a town some 40 kilometres south Quetta.

"Four people of a family, including a woman, were killed and another man wounded when gunmen fired with automatic weapons on their car as it slowed down on a speed bump," local police station chief Abdul Qudoos told AFP.

"It is a sectarian killing as the family had no enemy," Qudoos said.

District police chief Ghazanfar Ali Shah confirmed the details and said police suspect the attack was pre-planned, with informants in Quetta informing the attackers about the family's movements.

For years, Balochistan has witnessed dozens of sectarian-based terror attacks and suicide strikes on the Hazara Shia community members. The twin blasts in Quetta snooker hall left nearly 100 Hazara community members dead in Quetta on January 10, 2013. Hardly a month after, as the hapless people had not forgotten grisly act, another bloodbath was unleashed on Hazaras when explosive material planted in a water tank went of with a bang at Kirani Road on Feb 16, 2013 killing nearly 80 persons including women and children. The pilgrims mostly leaving for Iran have also been a target of the militants.

Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri and Home Minister Sarfraz Bugti denounced in harsh words the Mastung firing incident, and ordered the police high-ups to submit a detailed report of the incident.

The home minister termed the attack on woman against Islamic norms and Balochistan traditions. He said terrorists could not escape the law for a longtime.

AFP adds: The men sprayed bullets at the vehicle of the Hazara Shia family travelling to Karachi as they passed through Choto, a town some 40 kilometres south Quetta.

"Four people of a family, including a woman, were killed and another man wounded when gunmen fired with automatic weapons on their car as it slowed down on a speed bump," local police station chief Abdul Qudoos told AFP.

"It is a sectarian killing as the family had no enemy," Qudoos said.

District police chief Ghazanfar Ali Shah confirmed the details and said police suspect the attack was pre-planned, with informants in Quetta informing the attackers about the family's movements.