QUETTA: A regional Daesh affiliate group claimed responsibility for killing two young members of Pakistan’s Christian minority while they were playing cricket in the southwestern Balochistan province on Wednesday, in the latest attack involving one of the country’s vulnerable religious communities.
The attack took place at a cricket ground in Shams Abad, about four kilometers from a Christian neighborhood in Mastung district, around 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the provincial capital, Quetta.
Abdul Rauf, the station house officer of Mastung City police station, said the attackers came from a nearby village, opened fire on a group of local Christian cricketers and fled the scene.
“Two young cricketers were killed in the latest attack,” Rauf told Arab News.
“The attackers fled to the nearby village after targeting the group of minority cricketers.”
The victims were identified as Ayush Masih, 21, and Domnik Masih, 24, both members of the Christian community in Mastung.
“Police have commenced investigation to arrest the attackers involved in attacking the young cricketers,” Rauf said, adding that security forces had launched a search operation to track down the assailants.
ISIS-PK, a regional affiliate of militant group Daesh, released a statement claiming responsibility for the attack as police said they were investigating the motive for the crime.
Pakistan’s Christian community has previously come under attack in Balochistan, although such incidents have been less frequent than attacks targeting security forces or the province’s Hazara Shiite minority.
In December 2017, Daesh claimed responsibility for a suicide and gun attack on the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta that killed at least nine worshippers and wounded dozens during a Sunday service.
Less than four months later, in April 2018, four Christians were shot dead while traveling in a rickshaw in Quetta in an attack also claimed by Daesh. Later the same month, gunmen opened fire on the city’s Essa Nagri Christian neighborhood, killing two Christians and wounding three others.
In August 2022, unidentified gunmen attacked a Christian colony in Mastung, killing one Christian man and injuring several others.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least populated province, borders Afghanistan and Iran and has witnessed decades of insurgent violence involving ethnic Baloch separatist groups and religious militant outfits.
The province has also experienced repeated sectarian attacks targeting members of the Hazara Shiite community.
