Two killed in sectarian attack in southwestern Pakistan

Two people from the ethnic Hazara community were shot dead in a sectarian attack in southwestern Pakistan on Sunday, where targeted killings of minorities have continued despite improvements in overall security.

Two people from the ethnic Hazara community were shot dead in a sectarian attack in southwestern Pakistan on Sunday, where targeted killings of minorities have continued despite improvements in overall security.

Three Hazara men were traveling together on the outskirts of Quetta, capital of Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, when two men on a motorcycle opened fire on them, killing two and wounding the third, a police official said.

“It is a sectarian target killing,” senior police officer Syed Attaullah Shah told Reuters.

No group has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack.

Hazaras are a mainly Shia Muslim community, and are frequently targeted by Taliban, Daesh, and other Sunni Muslim militant groups for their religious beliefs in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Many Hazaras fled to Pakistan during decades of conflict in neighboring Afghanistan, and nearly half a million now live in and around Quetta.