Daily Times

The suffering of the persecuted minority communities in Quetta continues as two Hazara men have been shot and killed in a targeted attack.

The latest attack took place in the city’s Shahrah-e-Iqbal area on Saturday.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

Police identified the deceased as Jaffar Ali and his nephew Mohammad Ali. They were attacked at Jaffar’s shop on Jamaluddin Afghani Road by unidentified men who openned fire on them and fled after killing them. Police and personnel of other law enforcement agencies soon reached the site and the investigation went underway. Rescue personnel shifted the bodies to Civil Hospital.

Based on initial investigation, police confirmed that it was a targeted killing.

A day earlier, the brother of a prayer leader was targetted on Toghi Road in the city.

Two members of the community were killed and another was injured in an attack in the Western Bypass area of the city last Sunday. A shopkeeper was gunned down on April 18 while another Hazara man was killed in the beginning of the month.

Also this month, five policemen were martyred after a suicide bomber attacked a police truck in Quetta, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations.

Balochistan Inspector General of Police Moazzam Jah Ansari said the suicide bomber had come on a motorcycle and hit the truck from the rear end.

Earlier in the day, two suicide bombers were killed by the security forces in the city’s Mian Ghundi area, the military’s media wing said. The bombers had attempted to target a Frontier Corps post near the Western Bypass.

Published in Daily Times, April 29^th 2018.