District and Sessions Judge Abdul Hakeem Kakar and his security guard were killed on Thursday after armed assailants targeted vehicles carrying judicial officials travelling from Quetta to Mastung, officials said.
Balochistan Home Department spokesperson Babar Yousafzai told the media that Judge Kakar and Additional Sessions Judge Tariq Lashari were travelling to Mastung when unidentified armed men attacked their vehicles near Wali Khan Crossing.
Yousafzai said Judge Kakar and his security guard were killed at the scene, while Lashari and another individual sustained injuries in the attack. The injured were shifted to a hospital in Mastung for treatment.
The attack came a day after three people were killed and five others injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a Karachi-bound passenger bus. In a separate incident, a bridge on the national highway was damaged in an explosion in the Khadkucha area of Mastung.
Following the incidents, authorities imposed an indefinite curfew in Khadkucha sub-tehsil from 9pm on Wednesday. Pakistani forces have also been conducting a security operation in the area for several days.
Meanwhile, the religious extremist group Islamic State Pakistan Province (ISPP) claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, saying it had targeted the judicial officials.
The incident marks the second attack claimed by ISPP in Mastung this month. On 9 July, the group claimed responsibility for an attack that killed two Christian cricketers in the district.