Muslim-on-Muslim violence in Pakistan

Gunmen opened fire on a van in the city of Quetta, south-west Pakistan, killing 11 Shia Muslims in a suspected sectarian attack, police say. Three other people were wounded. The attack comes a day after gunmen killed seven Shia pilgrims at a bus stop in the city center. Angered by the attacks, locals from the Shia community burnt cars and offices in Quetta, capital of Balochistan. Police stepped up patrols in the area. The attack will add to the growing sense of insecurity among Pakistan's minority Shia community. The group was travelling in a packed passenger van near the outskirts of Quetta when gunmen sprayed it with bullets. Seven people were killed on the spot and four others died on the way to hospital. One woman was among the dead. The gunmen managed to escape. There has been a notable increase in sectarian violence across Pakistan in recent years. The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Pakistan's deadliest militant group, has said that it was behind the attack. The group has strong ties to al-Qaeda and has carried out high profile attacks against US diplomats and Pakistan military targets in the country. But its focus remains on the Shia community - which it regards as apostates. The attack comes soon after the release of Malik Ishaq, head of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, after a decade in jail. When a local journalist asked him what he now intended to do, Ishaq said that his organisation would continue its "good work" - fighting those who opposed their version of Islam. Balochistan, on the border with Afghanistan, is also fighting a regional separatist insurgency as well as Islamic militancy.