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Gunmen kill three Shia Muslims in Pakistan

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Unidentified gunmen have attacked two separate Shia mosques in eastern Pakistan, killing three people.

The deadly attacks took place on Saturday in the city of Gujranwala, situated east of Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab.

According to police, the assailants stormed the mosques during morning prayers and opened fire on the worshipers before fleeing the scene.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks yet.

On November 1, heavily-armed militants shot and killed six Shia Muslims in Pakistan’s troubled southwestern province of Balochistan.

Human rights groups have criticized the Pakistani government for its failure to stem the rising tide of violence against the country’s Shia Muslims.

According to Human Rights Watch, about 400 Shia Muslims were killed in 2012 in Pakistan.

The New York-based group said Islamabad’s failure to capture or prosecute those behind the attacks suggested it was “indifferent” to the killings.

On February 16, a bomb attack targeting Shia Muslims in the main bazaar of the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta killed at least 90 people, including women and children, and injured 200 others. According to the police, most of the victims were Hazara Shias.

On January 10, a twin bomb attack at a crowded billiard hall killed more than 90 people, mostly Shia Muslims, in Quetta, which is the capital of Balochistan province.

Shia Muslims in Pakistan say the government must take decisive action against the forces involved in the targeted killings. They also accuse Islamabad of failing to provide security for the Muslim community.

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