Ahmadi community says gunmen killed one of their members and wounded another in eastern Pakistan

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen shot and killed a member of the minority Ahmadi community and wounded another person in eastern Pakistan, police said on Friday, the second such killing in a week.

The motive behind the attack was not immediately known and police said they have arrested two suspects following the previous day’s shooting in Bhulair, a village in Punjab province.

Amir Mahmood, a spokesperson for the Ahmadi community, said that the victim, identified as Muhammad Asif, was killed because of his faith, while another man was wounded in the assault.

In a statement, Mahmood said such assaults and hate campaigns were also ongoing against Ahmadis in various other parts of the country.

The latest attack came a week after a mob of Islamists beat to death a member of the Ahmadi community while demonstrating near an Ahmadi place of worship in Karachi, the capital of southern Sindh province.

There are about half a million of Ahmadis in Pakistan, which has a population of 250 million.

The Ahmadi religion is an offshoot of Islam, but Pakistan declared Ahmadis non-Muslims in 1974. Ahmadi homes and places of worship are often targeted by Sunni militants who consider them heretical.