Militants kill 8 in southwest Pakistan: Police 

At least eight persons were killed and 15 others wounded today when suspected militants opened fire on a gathering of Shias in Quetta city in southwest Pakistan, police said.

The Shias were in a park at Hazara Town when the militants attacked them with rockets and automatic weapons. At least three rockets were fired at the gathering, officials said.

"The people of Hazara Town were busy exercising and taking a morning walk at a ground adjacent to a graveyard when armed men in a pick-up truck fired rockets and shot at them," DIG (operations) Hamid Shakeel told the media.

Eight persons were killed instantly and 15 more injured, he said.

The attackers later fled.

Rescue workers rushed to the site and took the injured and bodies to a nearby hospital.

Police and paramilitary personnel cordoned off the area and launched a search for the attackers.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

There have been numerous attacks on the minority Shia community in recent years in Balochistan province, of which Quetta is the capital.