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Journalist Killed In Capital Of Pakistan's Restive Balochistan


Unidentified gunmen shot dead a journalist in the restive province of Balochistan, southwest Pakistan, police said.

Abdul Wahid Raisani, a reporter with the local Urdu language Azadi newspaper, was attacked while returning home in the provincial capital Quetta on the evening of April 24, police said in a statement.

The wounded journalist was taken to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

It was immediately not clear who attacked the journalist. Police said an investigation was under way and the murder may have occurred when robbers attempted to steal Raisani’s motorbike.

The Balochistan Union of Journalists, a provincial media body, condemned the murder of Raisani as “reprehensible” and demanded immediate action to find the killers.

The union plans to protest outside the provincial legislature on April 26 and will boycott providing media coverage of the assembly's proceedings.

Quetta is the capital of resource-rich Balochistan Province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran. The region has been plagued by sectarian violence, attacks by Islamist militants, and a separatist insurgency that has caused thousands of casualties since 2004.

Earlier this week, an explosion at a luxury hotel killed at least five and injured 12, including two district administrative officials.

The Tehrik-e Taliban (TTP) group, known as the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the April 21 attack, saying it sought to target officials.

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