QUETTA - Eight people, including three members of Hazara community and two women, were gunned down and another 12 wounded in two separate shootouts in Bolan and Quetta districts of Balochistan on Monday.
Levies Force officials said five people, including two women, were killed and eight others injured when two buses, heading to Punjab and Sindh late Sunday, came under a gun attack near the mountains. Rescuers and lawmen rushed to the site and cordoned off the area.
The dead and injured were moved to hospital where two deceased were identified as Gul Naz and Ghulam Qadir. The seriously injured were moved to Quetta. The banned Baloch Republican Army (BRA) claimed responsibility for the shooting. Calling from unknown location via satellite phone, BRA spokesman Sarbaaz Baloch said: “The BRA carried out the onslaught because the buses bound for Sindh and Punjab ignored its appeal for a complete strike on the 6th death anniversary of Nawab Akbar Bugti.”
In Quetta, three Hazara men were killed while another four, including a toddler, sustained injures in Killi Mubarak area in Spiny Road.
A police official Muhammad Anwar said Hazara people were heading to Marriabad from Hazara town in a cab when armed motorcyclists attacked them, killing three members on the spot and wounding three others.
Following the incident, the law enforcers rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area. The deceased were identified as Muhammad Ali, Habibullah and Mustafa while the injured were named as Muhammad Ameer, Raza Hussain and a two-year-old child Hasmatullah. According to police, it was a sectarian attack. However, no group claimed responsibility for the attack till filling of this report.
The killing drew ire among the members of Hazara community who took to the streets. The angry protesters blocked Eastern Bypass and Brewery Road, burnt the tyres and chanted the slogan against administration for its failure in reining in target killers.
The Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) also staged a protest demonstration outside the Quetta Press Club and condemned the targeted killing.
Addressing the protesters HDP Secretary Information Raza Wakeel took a swipe at the provincial government, saying: “More than 600 members of the Hazara community were killed in targeted killing but the government has been dragging its feet over the matter.” He called upon the government to step up efforts to curb target killing in the province.
Meanwhile, a dead body of a youth was recovered from Kalat district, some 160 KM southeast of Quetta,.
According to sources, on a tip-off, local administration recovered a dead body lying in Gorpad area of Kalat and moved it to hospital for post-mortem. The deceased was identified as Muhammad Zakira.
Sources said that the victim had gone missing three days ago from Kalat. However, motive behind his killing could not be ascertained.
Local administration after completing legal formalities handed over the body to family and registered a case.