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Gunmen Kill 8 Members of Persecuted Minority in Pakistan Attacks in Quetta, Pakistan, Kill at Least 13
(about 4 hours later)
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — At least eight men were killed and two others wounded when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a bus in southwestern Pakistan, the police and rescue officials said Thursday. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A barrage of shootings and bombings shook the Pakistani city of Quetta on Thursday, leaving at least 13 people dead in three separate attacks that each reflected a different facet of the violence afflicting Baluchistan Province.
The victims were ethnic Hazara, a Persian-speaking Shiite Muslim minority group that has been repeatedly targeted by Sunni extremists in recent years. In the first, at least eight men were killed and two others wounded when gunmen opened fire on a bus, the police and rescue officials said. The victims were ethnic Hazara, a Shiite Muslim minority group that has been repeatedly targeted by Sunni extremists in a wave of violence that has killed hundreds in recent years and left Hazaras feeling that the police cannot, or will not, protect them.
Officials said the bus was attacked by four to six gunmen on motorcycles on the outskirts of Quetta, capital of the southwestern province of Baluchistan. In an assault with political overtones, Maulana Fazalur Rehman, an influential religious figure who leads the fundamentalist party Jamiat Ulema Islam-F, was attacked after addressing a rally at a stadium in Quetta. The police said that Mr. Rehman was leaving the venue when a suicide bomber ran up to his bulletproof vehicle. Mr. Rehman and the other passengers were unhurt, but at least three people were reported killed in the attack, responsibility for which was claimed by Jundallah, a militant group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban.
The victims were vegetable sellers who were returning to a local Hazara enclave from a market, the police said. Separately, a bomb planted on a motorcycle exploded near a security forces convoy, killing two people and wounding 12, the police said. The blast occurred as security forces were conducting a search after the attack on the Hazaras. But the authorities said that Baluch separatists, who are fighting an insurgent war against the Pakistani military, were possibly behind the attack.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suspicion fell heavily on Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a banned Sunni militant group with strong links to the Taliban that has targeted Shiites in a brutal campaign of violence in recent years. In the attack on the Hazaras, officials said that four to six gunmen opened fire on the bus on the outskirts of Quetta, which is the provincial capital of Baluchistan. The victims were vegetable sellers who were returning to a Hazara enclave from a market, the police said.
The gunmen escaped easily after the killings. Six men died at the scene, and two others at a hospital, officials said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suspicion fell on Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a banned Sunni militant group with strong links to the Taliban that has targeted Shiites in a brutal campaign of violence.
Hazara leaders expressed frustration with the government and anguish over the latest attack. “In the last decade, at least 2,000 of our people have been killed, and yet the killers remain unpunished,” Abdul Khaliq Hazara, the Quetta-based leader of the Hazara Democratic Party, said by telephone. Hazara leaders expressed frustration with the government and anguish over the latest attack after the gunmen appeared to escape easily. “In the last decade, at least 2,000 of our people have been killed, and yet the killers remain unpunished,” Abdul Khaliq Hazara, the Quetta-based leader of the Hazara Democratic Party, said by telephone.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Baluchistan’s chief minister, Abdul Malik Baluch, condemned the killings and ordered the law enforcement authorities to ensure that Hazaras are protected. But Mr. Hazara said that protection had long been elusive.
“No action has been taken against the culprits. No arrests have been made over past acts of violence,” Mr. Hazara said. “It seems the killers have been given a free hand.”“No action has been taken against the culprits. No arrests have been made over past acts of violence,” Mr. Hazara said. “It seems the killers have been given a free hand.”
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Baluchistan’s chief minister, Abdul Malik Baluch, condemned the killings and ordered the law enforcement authorities to ensure that Hazaras are protected. Mr. Hazara said the community would observe a three-day mourning period for the victims. But he said the community had been “paralyzed” by the recurrent violence.
But Mr. Hazara expressed doubt that action would be taken. “I know no one will be arrested even now,” he said.
He said Hazaras had called for a strike Friday in Quetta and would observe a three-day mourning period for the victims. But he said the community had been “paralyzed” by the recurrent violence.
“We cannot organize any protests,” he said. “If we go out, we fear being targeted again.”“We cannot organize any protests,” he said. “If we go out, we fear being targeted again.”
In the attack against Mr. Rehman, the religious party leader, he told local news outlets that even though the suicide attack destroyed one side of his vehicle, “I did not receive any injuries, but felt the impact of the explosion.”
In addition to the three reported dead, at least 12 people were hurt in the attack.
Mr. Rehman has escaped two assassination attempts in the past, the last being in 2011 and believed to have been orchestrated by some Taliban factions who were unhappy with his politics and political partnership with mainstream political parties.
Though an ally of the Taliban claimed responsibility, Mr. Rehman said he blamed the United States for the attack.
“I speak against America and defend our civilization,” Mr. Rehman said. “This is why I was targeted.”