Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the murder of a senior Pakistani police officer and a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community. Both men were killed in a near-identical drive-by shooting on Sunday night in the port city of Karachi.

The attacks happened within a three hour time period; Traffic airport DSP Faiz Ali Shigri, a member of the Shia community, was killed near Laal Flats in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, while his driver was injured in the attack. The DSP was sitting in his car along with his driver and monitoring traffic when two men riding a motorcycle fired at the vehicle.

The member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, 55-year-old Sajid Mehmood was shot dead outside his house in Block-1 of Gulshan-e-Kaneez Fatima in Sachal area of Karachi. Police said Sajid Mehmood was also attacked in a similar fashion, by two men on a motorcycle.

Counter-terrorism department’s official Raja Umer Khattab said both attacks appeared to be sectarian in nature as the Police officer and Mehmood were members of the Shia and Ahmadi communities respectively. He added that the attackers had probably monitored the movements of both men and targeted them on Sunday.

On Monday, November 28th, Islamic State’s (IS) ‘Amaq News Agency reported that the Police officer and “propagator of Qadiani religion” had been “assassinated by an Islamic State fighter”.