ISLAMABAD
Two policemen were killed and two injured, including a passerby, when unknown motorcyclists opened fire on them near a Shiite Mosque in the outskirts of capital Islamabad on Monday, the officials said.
The deceased and injured were deputed on the security of an Imambargah (worship place) in Dhok Syedaan, a suburban locality near Islamabad.
“Four armed assailants riding on two motorcycles opened fire on the policemen deputed on the security of an Imambargah on Monday morning killing two of them on the spot," city police chief Akhtar Hayat Lalika told reporters. The third policeman received a bullet in his leg, Mr. Lalika said. A passerby was also injured in the firing, he added.
Scores of area residents belonging to Shiite community took to the streets following the incident, and blocked the main highway for two hours. Chanting slogans against terrorism, angry protestors burnt tyres, and pelted stones on vehicular traffic.
Sectarian violence has had deep roots in this South Asian nuclear Muslim state, where hundreds of people have been killed and injured in sectarian-related targeted killings and bomb blasts during last few years. Shiite-Sunni tension began in Pakistan following Shiite-dominated Islamic revolution in neighboring Iran, which has engulfed lives of thousands of people during last over three decades. Many believe that hardline Shiite and Sunni groups are being sponsored by Iran and Saudi Arabia respectively. Pakistan is a Sunni majority country where Shiites make up 10 per cent of 180 million population. Sunnis constitute 85 per cent of the country’s total population.
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