Gunmen shot dead seven Pakistanis in two separate incidents took place n the troubled southwestern province of Baluchistan on Saturday.

Gunmen shot dead seven Pakistanis in two separate incidents took place n the troubled southwestern province of Baluchistan on Saturday, police said.

The incidents occurred near Quetta, the capital of the oil and gas rich province, which is plagued by sectarian violence.

"Four gunmen riding two motorbikes intercepted a bus near Hazarganji area, pulled five vegetable sellers off the vehicle and shot them dead," senior local police official Wazir Khan Nasir told Agence France Presse.

He said in a second incident, two motorbike riders sprayed bullets at two Pakistanis in Hazarganji area, on the outskirts of Quetta, killing both of them.

Another local police official Mukhtar Musakhel confirmed the incident and casualties.

Nobody has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks but the province suffers from Taliban attacks that have left thousands of people dead.