QUETTA - Gunmen opened fire on worshippers at a shrine in Balochistan twon of Awaran, killing at least six members of a minority sect and wounding seven others, officials said on Friday.
The attack came at a shrine of the Zikri community in Awaran district, around 650 kilometres southwest of Quetta.
“Three gunmen came on two motorbikes and fired at the worshippers, praying at sunset. At least six people have been killed and seven others are injured,” Akbar Harifal, the senior administration official in the area, told AFP. “The gunmen escaped after the attack.”
Balochistan Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani also confirmed the attack.
Zikris are relatively a new sect of Muslims who worship in groups at shrines and on mountains in remote, sparsely populated Balochistan.
No group has claimed the attack but graffiti warning Zikris and Hindus to embrace mainstream Islam or face being killed appeared on the walls in the province last week.