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Cop among 4 killed in Quetta attacks

Police later said they had arrested one wounded suspect, who claimed he was not an attacker but a passerby.

Quetta - At least four people, including a policeman, were killed and two others injured in two separate incidents where armed assailants opened fire in Quetta city on Monday.
In the first incident, gunmen shot dead two brothers and a policeman at a passport office here, officials said. The brothers, who belonged to the Hazara ethnic group and easily recognised by their Central Asian features, were entering the city's passport office along with their parents when the waiting gunmen opened fire.
"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 two gunmen were involved in the shooting but they had others to assist them in escaping the scene.
Provincial Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani confirmed the shooting and the casualties. Police later said they had arrested one wounded suspect, who claimed he was not an attacker but a passerby.
Members of Hazara community protested by placing the bodies of victims, wrapped in shrouds, outside the regional police chief's office, witnesses said.
No group immediately came forward to claim responsibility, but several such attacks in the past have been carried out by sectarian outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which has flourished in recent years despite being outlawed.
In a separate attack in Jinnah Town of Quetta, a manager of a non-governmental organisation (NGO) was shot dead by unidentified gunmen.
The 45-year-old victim was working for women's empowerment and poverty alleviation through his NGO in the city.
Police said that both the attacks were a continuation of the recent spree of targeted killings in the province that claimed over 20 lives, including those of eight policemen, last month. - Agencies

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