Quetta, Pakistan (ANTARA News/AFP) - Gunmen shot dead four Shiite Muslims in Pakistan`s troubled southwestern province of Baluchistan on the border with Iran and Afghanistan, officials said Monday.

The drive-by shooting took place at the busy Prince Road in Quetta, the provincial capital.

"Two gunmen riding a motorbike opened fire on a shoe store killing four Shiite Muslims and wounding three others," senior police official Muhammad Tariq told AFP.

"It was most probably a sectarian incident but the police are investigating," he said.

Another police official, Jehangir Shah, also confirmed the incident and the four casualties.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Baluchistan is rife with Islamist militancy and sectarian violence between majority Sunnis and minority Shiite Muslims, and a regional separatist insurgency.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed since Baluch rebels rose up in 2004 against the federal Pakistani government, demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the oil, gas and mineral resources in the region. (*)

Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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