QUETTA, July 30: At least 11 people, a woman among them, were killed on Saturday when armed men sprayed bullets at a van on the outskirts of Quetta.

The victims were travelling to Quetta from Hazara town in a rented van when the assailants ambushed the Suzuki van.

Ali Sher Haideri, a spokesman for the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, claimed responsibility for the killings.

“Ten out of eleven persons who lost their lives in the shooting belong to Hazara tribe,” DIG Operation Hamid Shakeel told Dawn, adding that another man who was killed in the attack was a rickshaw driver who was caught in the cross-fire.

This was the second shooting incident involving Hazaras in Balochistan within 24 hours. On Friday gunmen peppered an office of a private transport company in Quetta, killing seven pilgrims bound for Iran.

The dead were identified as Syed Ameer Khan, Ali Muhammad, Mir Muhammad, Qurban Ali, Ubaidullah, Liaquat Ali, Muhammad Ibrahim, Syed Aqeel Shah, Hussain Ahmed and Raza Muhammad, the van driver. Name of the woman was not known.

Security forces raided different localities in and around Quetta and took around 250 suspects into custody after the ambush.

Members of the Hazara community took to the streets after the killing, blocking roads and torching vehicles.