QUETTA: At least three people were killed and three others injured in a series of shooting incidents on Thursday in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province.

Three separate shooting incidents in the span of an hour claimed two lives and injured three other people in Quetta, the provincial capital.

According to police, the first incident took place at the city’s busy market Qandahari Bazar when unknown gunmen riding motorcycles opened fire, severely injuring three people. At least two of the three injured were identified as locals belonging to the minority Hazara community.

In a similar incident, another man, said to be a public servant and also belonging to the Hazara community, was gunned down by unidentified armed assailants.

Meanwhile, another man lost his life when gunmen opened fire at a tailor shop at Sarki Road.

In the most recent incident, unidentified gunmen shot dead renowned local doctor Lakhmi Chand in Balochistan’s Mastung district, about 25 kilometres south of Quetta.

Earlier on Thursday, a local court sentenced to life imprisonment three suspects for the murder of Baloch leader Habib Jalib Baloch. The sentence was handed down by sessions judge Rashid Mehmood.

Habib Jalib Baloch, a former senator and secretary-general of the Balochistan National Party-M, was assassinated on Quetta’s Sariab Road in July 2010.