QUETTA: At least four people belonging to the Hazara community were shot dead and one other was injured as unidentified gunmen opened fire on their vehicle near Balochistan’s Mastung district on Wednesday.

The men sprayed bullets at the vehicle of the family travelling to Karachi as they passed through Choto, a town some 40 kilometres south of Quetta.

“Four people of a family, including a woman, were killed and another man wounded when gunmen fired with automatic weapons on their car as it slowed down on a speed bump,” local police station chief Abdul Qudoos said. “It is a sectarian killing as the family had no enemy.”

District police chief Ghazanfar Ali Shah confirmed the details and said police suspect the attack was pre-planned, with informants in Quetta informing the attackers about the family’s movements.

Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has oil and gas resources but is afflicted by a separatist insurgency.

                                                                               
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