Gunmen kill six in SW Pakistan: police
Gunmen on Sunday shot dead six people including a police official in a suspected sectarian attack in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, police said.
The attackers riding on two motorbikes opened fire on people sitting in a shop in Sarki area of Quetta, capital of impoverished Baluchistan province, senior police officer Jahangir Shah said.
"They entered a welding shop when workers were having their lunch and killed five people," he said, adding that the dead included four members of the Shiite Hazara community and one passer-by.
Before fleeing they also opened fire on a police patrol, killing one policeman and wounding a police official, Shah said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Baluchistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, suffers from Islamist militancy linked to the Taliban, sectarian violence between the majority Sunni and minority Shiite Muslim sects and a separatist insurgency.
Hundreds of people have been killed since separatist Baluch rebels rose up in 2004, demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from oil, gas and mineral resources in the region.
Sunday's attack came as Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani flew to Quetta to discuss the law and order situation in the province, officials said.
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