QUETTA, Jan 14: A DSP and three police personnel were killed when gunmen attacked their vehicle here on Wednesday.

According to sources, DSPs Agha Hasan Ali and Ghulam Mohammad were going to the Police Training College in Sariab along with their security guards when four armed men on two motorcycles sprayed their vehicle with bullets near the Bibi Nani shrine, killing three of them on the spot and injuring two others.

(The Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, a banned extremist organisation, claimed responsibility for the killing. “We claim the responsibility for today’s attack,” Ali Haider, identifying himself as a spokesman for the group, said in telephone calls to local media.—AFP)

Police and law-enforcement personnel rushed to the area and took the bodies and the injured to the Bolan Medical College Complex Hospital where DSP Agha Hasan Ali succumbed to his injuries.

The guards were identified as Nasarullah and Siffatullah and the driver as Mohammad Taqi.

“It was a target killing and police officers belonging to the Hazara tribe were targeted,” a senior police officer said.

DSP Ghulam Mohammad, who suffered multiple bullet wounds, was being treated at the CMH.

Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani condemned the incident and asked Quetta police chief Nawabzada Humayun Jogezai to arrest the killers within 48 hours.

“The government will take all measures to protect people’s life and property,” he said.

The killing sparked protests in various areas of the city and a large number of Hazara tribesmen held a demonstration outside the Southern Command Corps Commander House.

The Hazara Democratic Party gave a call for a protest strike on Thursday.

They raised slogans against the governor, chief minister, Inspector General of Police and CCPO Quetta and demanded immediate arrest of the killers.

GOC Quetta Maj-Gen Tariq Rashid assured the protesters that the culprits would be arrested and brought to justice.

“Sunni and Shia are brothers and the peaceful Ashura procession has proved that the two sects believe in solidarity and religious harmony, but some miscreants want to pit them against each other,” he said.

The protesters dispersed peacefully after Maj-Gen Rashid’s assurance.

Later, addressing a press conference at the Quetta Press Club, Hazara Democratic Party secretary-general Abdul Khaliq Hazara said the terrorists had targeted police officers belonging to the Hazara tribe.

He criticised the provincial government and police for failing to curb sectarian violence and provide protection to Hazara tribesmen. He demanded deployment of Frontier Corps and establishment of checkposts in sensitive areas of the city.