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Gunmen kill 12 police in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Gunmen on motorcycles have opened fire on police trainees on their way back from a holiday, killing 12 and wounding seven, authorities said. The attack occurred Sunday in the border city of Quetta, capital of southwestern Baluchistan province in Pakistan. The trainees were returning to their academy in a police truck when four unidentified attackers on two motorcycles opened fire, police sources told CNN. Investigators believe the attack may have been a case of sectarian violence. Most of the dead were Shiite Muslims from Quetta's Hazara minority, police sources said. Quetta, located near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, was home to a large number of Afghan refugees. Sunday's killings sparked new tensions in the city, which was the scene of violent protests against the U.S. war in Afghanistan in 2001. Protesters jeered the provincial governor, retired Lt. Gen. Abdul Qadir Balooch, when he visited wounded police in an area hospital. The city's market and many businesses will be closed Monday to protest the attack. In Islamabad, Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali expressed grief over the attack, state-run Pakistan Television reported. Jamali ordered security in the province put on high alert in an effort to arrest the culprits. But Sardar Musa, head of the local Hazara tribe, told Associated Press many of the police trainees were members of his ethnic group. "We want the government to arrest the culprits," Musa said. The killings were the third in just over a week against Shiites in Quetta. Pakistan's population is 80 percent Sunni Muslim. Though the two sects mainly get along, small groups of extremist Shiites and Sunnis frequently attack each other. Spate of attacksOn Friday, motorcycle gunmen in Quetta shot and killed a Shiite Muslim prayer leader. And on May 31, two gunmen riding motorcycles ambushed a car carrying Ghulam Nabi, a prominent local Shiite, wounding him and killing his son. Over the past three days, more than 20 people have been arrested in connection with the previous killings in Quetta, the city's police chief told Associated Press. He did not specify their ethnic group. In Quetta, hundreds of members of the Hazara community, including many women, gathered in front of the Civil Hospital where most of the wounded were brought. Many were crying and beating their chests. Some tore at their hair, overcome by sorrow and anger, and chanted slogans such as "Death to the government" and "Death to terrorists and killers of Hazaras." Hazaras account for about 300,000 of Quetta's 1.4 million population, according to government figures. -- CNN Producer Syed Mohsin Naqvi and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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