Protests in Pak after 18 Shiites killed

At least 18 Shia Muslims, including a woman, have been gunned down in two days of sectarian violence in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, triggering strong protests by members of the minority community who torched vehicles and shops.

A day after seven Shia devotees were killed by unidentified gunmen, 11 members of the Hazara Shia community were gunned down in a sectarian attack in the capital of Balochistan Province on Saturday.

According to media reports, a woman was among the 11 people killed today and four others were injured. On Friday, seven Shia devotees who were heading to Iran to visit religious sites, were killed by gunmen in Quetta. With Saturday's killings, the toll in the violence targeting the minority community has risen to 18 since Friday.

The banned extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for Friday's attack. A spokesman for the group, who was identified as Ali Sher Haidri, said the attack was in retaliation for the murder of Sunni scholar Maulvi Karim, who was killed in Quetta in a firing incident on Thursday.

After the attack, hundreds of Shia Muslims gathered on Barori Road in protest, chanting slogans against the government and the police for their failure to check sectarian killings. The angry protesters also blocked the main road. They torched vehicles and shops outside a hospital,where several bodies of the slain persons were taken along and the injured persons admitted.