Pakistan-Attack
Unidentified gunmen shot dead three persons in a Pakistani northwestern city on Saturday, police said.

Police said that two motorcyclists sprayed bullets at a shopkeeper Mazhar Zaidi at the city of Dera Ismail Khan, killing him, his sales man and another man at the scene.

All slain people belong to Shia Muslim community, according to the police, who described the incident as sectarian-motivated.

The attackers fled after the attack.

Additional paramilitary force and police were called out to the city and started patrolling after the killing, witnesses said.

The shopkeepers pulled their shutters as tension gripped the city.

The people were confined to their houses.

No group claimed responsibility of the attack.

Dera Ismail Khan is very sensitive for sectarian violence. It is the third attack on members of the Shia Muslim community in a month.

Two people were killed in the previous attacks.

A police officer Abdul Ghafoor said the incident took place at 9 a.m. at the busiest Mukaran bazaar.

He said the police set up check posts at different places to apprehend the culprits but no one was arrested.

The city had been under curfew for a month last year in October and April after sectarian violence.

The police had temporarily banned riding motorcycles after the incident.