Initial reports suggest that unidentified men, riding a motorcycle opened fire on people exiting a church after attending the Sunday service in Essa Nagri neighbourhood of the city.
The injured were taken to a nearby hospital.
Meanwhile, the community members with dead bodies have staged a protest demonstration against the government’s failure to end attacks on Christians. They have blocked the Barori Road near Golimar Chowk for all traffic.
Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti has strongly condemned the attack and expressed deep sorrow over the loss of innocent lives. He said those involved in the attack will not be spared.
The attack comes two weeks after four members of a Christian family were gunned down in Quetta a day after the community celebrated Easter on April 1.
The family was travelling in a rickshaw when armed men on a motorcycle intercepted them and opened fire in the Balochistan capital.
A woman was rushed to hospital. Her father and three cousins were killed. “It appears to have been a targeted attack,” provincial police official Moazzam Jah Ansari said. “It was an act of terrorism,” he added.The attack comes a day after Pakistan’s Christian community celebrated Easter on Sunday. Around two per cent of Pakistan’s population are Christians.
Meanwhile five people, including a Levies official, were martyred, while five others sustained injuries in a clash between two groups in the city’s Qambarani Road area.
According to police sources, two groups opened fire at each other following a dispute. As a result, four people were killed on the spot, while seven others were wounded.
The bodies of Takri Ghulam Rasool Bangulzai, Bashir Ahmed, Abdul Hameed, Levies personnel Naveed Ahmed and the injured were rushed to the Civil Hospital, Quetta.
One of the injured Amanullah succumbed to his injuries during treatment.
