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The Islamic State group has claimed the killing of four members of Pakistani security forces who were shot dead by gunmen on a motorcycle in the southwestern city of Quetta.

The statement issued Sunday gave no further details about the attack, which took place the day before.

The IS affiliate in Pakistan has grown in recent months by attracting disgruntled Taliban militants and by partnering with a violent sectarian group that targets the country's Shiite minority. IS claimed an attack on a Sufi shrine earlier this month that killed more than 50 people.

Pakistan has stepped up security ahead of Shiite processions on Sunday and Monday to mourn Imam Hussein, the slain grandson of Prophet Muhammad.</s>Quetta: Three paramilitary soldiers and a policeman were killed when gunmen opened fire in Pakistan’s southwestern city of Quetta on Saturday, officials said, in the latest outbreak of violence in restive Baluchistan province.

“Three paramilitary soldiers and one policeman have been killed while a passerby has been injured in an attack on the paramilitary troops," local police official Syed Zahid Hussain said.

The incident was also confirmed by a spokesman from the local paramilitary force.

The shooting was claimed by the Al-Alami faction of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) group, according to a statement released by a spokesman.

Last month, the outfit said it worked with the Islamic State group to execute a massive night raid on a police college that killed 61 people, the deadliest assault on a security installation in Pakistan’s history.

Mineral-rich Balochistan province, of which Quetta is capital, has been plagued for decades by a separatist insurgency and sectarian killings.

In August, a suicide bombing at a Quetta hospital claimed by the Islamic State group and the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar wing of the Pakistani Taliban killed 73 people, including many of the city’s lawyer community who had gone there to mourn the fatal shooting of a colleague.

In August, a suicide bombing at a Quetta hospital claimed by the Islamic State group and the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar wing of the Pakistani Taliban killed 73 people, including many of the city’s lawyer community who had gone there to mourn the fatal shooting of a colleague.</s>ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's military announced Saturday that it has shot down a small Indian drone after it allegedly trespassed into the country's part of Kashmir amid daylong cross-border firing that killed four villagers, including two sisters and their brother.

The drone, named "Quad copter", was targeted after it intruded 60 meters inside Pakistan along the Line of Control in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, the army spokesman Lt. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa said. His statement added that the drone fell near a Pakistani post and troops seized it.

There was no immediate comment from the Indian army.

The latest development came after police said the cross-border firing had killed four villagers. Mohammad Shafqat, a police official from Pakistan's part of Kashmir, said three members of a family were among those four people who were killed on Saturday. A fourth person who was critically wounded this week died at a hospital, he said.

Pakistan's army also confirmed the account, saying its troops were returning fire and were carrying out a "befitting response" after coming under attack. However, an Indian army officer blamed Pakistan for initiating the firing, and also described the Indian troops' response as "befitting".

The officer spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to brief reporters.

Although such shootouts are common, the latest came a day after Pakistan's navy said it had intercepted Indian submarines entering the country's territorial waters in the Arabian sea. India quickly denied the claim.

Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman, Nafees Zakaria, posted a tweet to express his sympathies for those who lost their loved ones in the cross-border firing.

Pakistan has said India is escalating tension to divert the world community's attention from its human rights violations in Indian-controlled Kashmir, and says its army responds with restraint when under attack.

Elsewhere in the country, gunmen shot and killed two paramilitary soldiers and a police officer in the southwestern city of Quetta on Saturday, according to a statement released by the Frontier Corps force.

Associated Press writer Roshan Mughal in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report.
At least four are killed in an attack in Quetta, Pakistan. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility.