Two Christians gunned down in drive-by shooting in Quetta

QUETTA: Two members of the Christian community were killed on Sunday in the provincial capital of Balochistan, Quetta, when unknown gunmen opened fire on a small group that had just left a local church, police officials said.

The churchgoers were on their way home when two men on a motorcycle began shooting at them, local police official Ataullah Shah said.

Eight wounded were taken to hospital and two people were pronounced dead.

Television pictures showed members of Quetta’s Christian community burning car and bicycle tyres while protesting the shooting.

At the hospital, people screamed and cried as the two bodies were brought in on a stretcher covered with white sheets.

This month four members of a Christian family were gunned down in Quetta a day after Easter, in what police officials called a “targeted attack”.

In December two suicide bombers stormed a packed church in southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 10 people and wounding up to 56. Islamic State claimed both attacks.

Rome’s ancient Colosseum was lit in red for an evening in February in solidarity with persecuted Christians, particularly Asia Bibi, a Catholic woman who has been living on death row in Pakistan since 2010, when she was condemned for allegedly making derogatory remarks about Islam.