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Gunmen kill 2 Shias, policeman in SW Pakistan

Pakistani volunteers move the body of two welders killed in an attack by gunmen as relatives react at a hospital in the southwestern city of Quetta on July 1, 2015. © AFP

Armed militants have killed two Shia brothers and a policeman at a passport office in the city of Quetta in Pakistan’s troubled southwestern province of Balochistan.

The incident occurred on Monday after the waiting gunmen opened fire on the brothers, who were members of the Shia Hazara community, as they were entering the Quetta passport office along with their parents.

"The boys, in their twenties, were killed in the shooting while their parents were wounded and a policeman who was passing by the site was also killed after he shot and wounded one attacker," senior police official Abdul Razzaq Cheema said.

He added that the shooting was carried out by two armed men who were accompanied by others helping them escape the scene.

Provincial Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani confirmed the armed attack and its casualties.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the shooting, but, despite being outlawed, the terrorist group of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) has been behind most of such attacks on Shia Muslims in the country in recent years.

The attack comes as several members of the Shia Hazara community have lost their lives in a series of attacks by unidentified attackers in recent days across the volatile city.

Quetta has seen several bomb and gun attacks over the past couple of years. Hundreds of Shia Muslims have been killed in militant attacks there.

Pakistani Shia leaders have urged the Islamabad government to bring to justice those behind the ongoing bloodshed and targeted killings.

SF/NN/HRB


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