KARACHI, Pakistan — Gunmen killed the director of a popular arts center in Pakistan’s largest city on Friday, shortly after she had hosted a contentious event on human rights abuses in western Baluchistan Province.

The gunmen opened fire on the center’s director, Sabeen Mahmud, as she drove through the upscale neighborhood of Defence with her mother shortly after the event.

Ms. Mahmud was shot four times in the face, neck and chest. She was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, doctors said. Her mother was wounded in the attack and was treated at a private hospital early Saturday.

Ms. Mahmud, 39, was a well-known figure in Karachi’s arts and activist circles, and the center that she ran, The Second Floor, is a popular site for exhibitions and political discussions.