QUETTA, PAKISTAN ¨C Two members of Pakistan¡¯s beleaguered Christian community were killed on Sunday in the country¡¯s southwest when unknown gunmen opened fire on a small group that had just left a local church, police officials said.

The churchgoers were on their way home in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan¡¯s Baluchistan province, when two men on a motorcycle began shooting at them, local police official Ataullah Shah told Reuters.

Eight wounded were taken to a hospital and two people were pronounced dead.

Television pictures showed members of Quetta¡¯s Christian community burning car and bicycle tires while protesting the shooting.

At the hospital, people screamed and cried as the two bodies were brought in on a stretcher covered with white sheets.

Baluchistan, a region bordering Iran as well as Afghanistan, is plagued by violence by Sunni Islamist sectarian groups linked to the Taliban, al-Qaida and Islamic State. It also has an indigenous ethnic Baloch insurgency fighting the central government.

Islamic State has created a branch in Pakistan and Afghanistan in recent years mostly by recruiting among established militants. Its followers have claimed some of Pakistan¡¯s most deadly recent attacks.

This month four members of a Christian family were gunned down in Quetta a day after Easter, in what police officials called a ¡°targeted attack.

In December two suicide bombers stormed a packed church in southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 10 people and wounding up to 56. Islamic State claimed both attacks.

Rome¡¯s ancient Colosseum was lit in red for an evening in February in solidarity with persecuted Christians, particularly Asia Bibi, a Catholic woman who has been living on death row in Pakistan since 2010, when she was condemned for allegedly making derogatory remarks about Islam.