Unidentified bike-borne men shot dead four members of a Christian family in Pakistan’s Quetta on Monday, Reuters reported. The family was travelling in an auto rickshaw at the time of the incident. The Islamic State group claimed the attack in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency, AP reported.
A woman is being treated for her injuries from the attack while her father and three cousins succumbed to their injuries. “It appears to have been a targeted attack,” provincial police official Moazzam Jah Ansari told the news agency. “It was an act of terrorism.”
The attack on the minority community in Pakistan comes two days after the Christian festival of Easter. Security risks are high during minority religious festivals in the country, according to Reuters.
In December 2017, at least 10 people were killed and 44 were injured in a suicide attack at a Christian church in Balochistan’s Quetta. Christians account for 2% of the population.
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