Gunmen kill 9 people in Pakistan

Gunmen riding two motorcycles opened fire at a group of men at a laundry in the busy Saryab Road area of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, this afternoon.

Eight men, including a policeman, were killed and another was wounded, police officials said.

Police said preliminary investigations indicated that most of those killed were people from other provinces who had settled in Balochistan. The injured person was taken to the Civil Hospital, where officials described his condition as critical.

A man was killed in another shooting in Faizabad area of Quetta, police said. Gunmen riding a motorcycle fired at the man, who was killed instantly.

In yet another incident, armed men kidnapped a man in the city and took him away to an unknown location. The motive behind the kidnapping could not immediately be ascertained.

There was no claim of responsibility for any of the incidents. Balochistan has been hit by militancy, sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias and a separatist insurgency that has targeted non-Baloch residents of the province.

Baloch nationalist groups have been waging a violent campaign since 2004, demanding autonomy and a greater say in the exploitation of the province's abundant natural resources, including oil, gas and minerals.