At least four people, including two members of the minority Shia community, were killed and several others injured in two incidents of violence in the troubled Balochistan province of southwest Pakistan today.
Two Hazara Shia men were killed and two passers-by injured in an attack by unidentified gunmen on the busy Iqbal Avenue in the provincial capital of Quetta.
Two persons were killed and eight others injured in a bomb attack on a mosque close to a customs office in Chaman town near the border with Afghanistan.
Police said unidentified gunmen shot dead the Shias while they were travelling in a taxi. "The two men died on the spot but the motive behind the attack is not known," a senior police official said.
Officials confirmed both the dead men belonged to the Hazara Shia community.
The Hazara Shias have been the target of a series of terrorist attacks in Quetta and nearby areas. Over 250 people have died in attacks this year. The banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks on the Hazaras.
In Chaman, the blast at the mosque near the border crossing was the result of a bomb going off by mistake, officials said.
"Initial investigations indicate that the two persons killed in the blast were trying to plant bombs when one of the bombs went off accidentally," Ibrahim Baluch, an official, said.
"A second bomb was found in the area and defused," he added.
The explosion was loud enough to be heard across Chaman. After the blast, security forces cordoned off the area.
No group claimed responsibility for both attacks.
