United Baloch Army kill 22 passengers in Balochistan

QUETTA: Gunmen disguised as members of the Pakistani security forces killed at least 22 passengers on Friday night after forcing them off buses travelling from the western city of Quetta to Karachi on the southern coast, officials said.

The assault in the province of Balochistan occurred in the town of Mastung.

“Fifteen to 20 armed men in three pickup trucks and wearing security uniforms kidnapped around 35 passengers,” Sarfaraz Bugti, Balochistan’s home minister, towld Reuters. Bugti also alleged that India’s intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was involved in the killings.

Mureed Baloch, a militant who identifies himself as the spokesman of United Baloch Army (UBA), which has attacked security forces in the past, claimed the bus attacks on Saturday.

In Quetta, the family members and relatives of those killed in the Mastung massacre protested outside the Governor House with victims’ bodies laid beside them. They decided to continue the protest after negotiations between them and the administration failed.

< Gulf Today >

BLF killed 20 construction workers in Turbat

QUETTA (AFP) - Gunmen have killed 20 construction workers in Pakistan s restive southwestern province of Balochistan, shooting them at point blank range after identifying they were not local, officials said Saturday.

Balochistan is plagued by violence, with separatists seeking greater control over the province s rich oil, gas and mineral resources, and gunmen have previously targeted outsiders seen as settlers.

The Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) claimed responsibility for the incident.

"Gunmen stormed the camp of labourers in Gokh Don area of Baluchistan late Friday night and killed 20 labourers," senior police official Tariq Khilji told AFP. He said those killed were all from outside the province -- 16 of them from Punjab and four from Sindh province. The incident, which occurred around 1,050 kilometres (650 miles) southwest of Quetta, was confirmed by Akbar Hussain Durrani, a senior administration official in the province.

"The labourers were working on construction of a small local bridge," he said. Hussain said some of the labourers reported being woken from their sleep by the sound of gunshots and screams.

"They had lined them up and shot them at point blank range after identifying their identity," he said.

Goran Baloch, a spokesman for BLF said the group would carry out more attacks.

< Duniya News >

United Baloch Front Gunned Down eight Punjabi labourers In Hub Balochistan

< Daily Tawar >

Baloch militants attack on Jaffar Express in Sibi leaves 16 dead, 44 injured

SIBI / QUETTA: A woman and five children among 16 people were killed when the United Baloch Army (UBA) detonated a bomb on the Quetta-Rawalpindi passenger train Jaffar Express at Sibi railway station.

The deadly bombing left 44 people injured, five of whom with critical wounds. They were transported to Quetta. “The blast took place inside bogie number 9 of passenger Train Jaffar Express, which was on its way to Rawalpindi from Quetta,” Qazi Hussain, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) police Sibi told Express Tribune. Railway employees and police officials detached the bogie from other bogies in order to keep the fire from spreading.

Police investigators said around 20 kilograms of explosive materials were used in the blast. “It seems the explosive materials were planted inside the passenger train at Sibi railway station,” a railway official said.
The bogie caught fire and 16 people inside the bogie were burnt to death while more than 40 others sustained injuries.

The United Baloch Army claimed responsibility for the attack, BBC Urdu reported.
Charred beyond recognition, the bodies of the deceased were transported to Quetta so that their identities could be determined by DNA testing.

Rescue workers, fire fighters, police and security forces rushed to the station and transported the injured and deceased to Civil Hospital Sibi. Fire fighters managed to bring the fire under control after 40 minutes of struggle.

Some of the injured were shifted to Combined Military Hospital Sibi, while five injured with critical wounds were transported to Quetta by army helicopters.

Jaffar Express later left for its destination Rawalpindi after the conclusion of rescue operation in the blast site.
“We received 12 dead bodies and 41 injured and most of them are in critical condition. Women and children are among the injured,” said Ghulam Sarwar, Medical Superintendent (MS) of Civil Hospital Sibi told The Express Tribune.

President Mamnoon Hussain condemned the killings in the blast which occurred ten minutes after the train stopped at the railway station.

Railway Minister Khwaja Saad Rafiq said that the attack could be in retaliation of yesterday’s search operation by security forces in Balochistan in which 30 suspected militants were killed.

Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has strongly condemned the incident and sought a report on the incident. “An investigation comprising officials of Pakistan Army, Frontier Corps (FC) and police has been formed,” an Balochistan government official said

< Express Tribune >

Baloch VS Baloch: BRA killed Ghazi Khan and Seven members of his family

SOHBATPUR: At least eight members of a family, including women and children, were killed by a dozen or so insurgents from the outlawed Baloch Republican Army (BRA) after they stormed their house in Sohbatpur district on Sunday.

According to police sources, around a dozen men armed with automatic weapons attacked the house of a local landlord, Ghazi Khan Marhata Bugti, in the Doudatba area early in the morning at around 1:30 am.
The attackers indiscriminately fired at the residents and killed Ghazi Khan, his wife Sehat Khatoon, brother Imam Bux, sister-in-law Mungal Khatoon, son Pathan Khan and three grandchildren.

According to reports, the attackers were drawn into a firefight with the local peace militia just as they were fleeing the area. Two insurgents and one militia member died in the shoot-out.

The deceased insurgents were later identified as Shera Hamzani Bugti and Madu Sundrani Bugti, members of the banned militant outfit. According to reports, the BRA accused Ghazi Khan of collaborating with the security forces.

According to the FC spokesperson, following the reporting of the incident by local residents, FC’s special squad reached the spot and threw a cordon round the area.

Later, the FC troops engaged the alleged attackers in an hours-long firefight. The FC claimed that six more terrorists were killed as a result of their retaliatory measures. The paramilitary force also claimed to have captured a huge cache of arms.

< Express Tribune >

Four people were killed and 65 injured in BRA attack on Train

Four people were killed and 65 injured on Friday when a passenger train derailed following a bomb explosion on its tracks in southern Punjab. The Baloch Republican Army (BRA) claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Khushaal Khan Khattak Express – which was en route to Karachi from Peshawar – was chugging past the rural area of Omar Kot, in Rojhan sub-district of Rajanpur, when the attack took place, officials said.
A timed device planted on the track went off moments after the locomotive crossed it. All seven wagons, carrying around 400 passengers, derailed and four of the wagons fell into a nearby nala.

Railways Minister Khwaja Saad Rafique ordered an inquiry into the incident and announced Rs500,000 compensation for heirs of each of the dead and Rs100,000 for each injured.

BRA spokesperson Arbaz Khan claimed responsibility for the attack.

< Express Tribune >

BLF kills two Christian sweepers in Turbat

Two Christians, who worked as sweepers in Turbat, were gunned down Thursday by a Baloch militant group. The two victims were identified as Musthtaq Masih and Ilyas Masih.

"The killings took place within the limits of the municipal corporation," Deputy Commissioner of Kech District Abdul Hameed Abro told this correspondent on phone from Turbat. However, he did not have any further information,

According, to the local sources they two were in their 40s and employed as sanitary workers with Turbat Municipal Corporation. Turbat is hometown of Balochistan chief minister Dr. Malik Baloch, the two sweepers went to Zor Bazar in Turbat and were busy opening a blocked sewerage line as the dirty water was overflowing on the road when they were gunned down. Most Muslims all over Pakistan shun the work of opening sewer lines and the low paid job is done mainly by Christians.

The Baloch Liberation Tigers, a pseudonym used by the Baloch Liberation Front of Dr. Allah Nazar Baloch, owned responsibility for the killings.

Senator Mr Hasil Bizenjo strongly condemned the killings of the poor Christians. "This shameful act is a huge disgrace for the Baloch struggle for rights," Bizenjo said on phone from Quetta, capital of Balochistan. "The killings show the depths of the political abyss the militants have fallen into," he added.

Pakistan Christian Congress also strongly condemned the killings of the two innocent Christian sweepers.

"Killing poor people and laborers is the height of inhumanity," P.C.C. president Dr. Nazir Bhatti, who is based in Philadelphia, said. "The difference between Taliban and the Baloch militants is fast eroding as their brutal tactics are now basically one," Dr. Bhatti said.

Apparently, the main sin of the two victims was they spoke Punjabi. Most Christians in Pakistan belong to Punjab, the dominant of the four provinces, but they eke out a slave-like existence working as sweepers.


< Masti Khan Report >

In Pictures: Closing ceremony of Advance Anti-Terrorist training of Balochistan Police

Police Commandos train to defend Balochistan :

Baloch VS Baloch: Noor Ahmed Buledi Killed By Baloch Militants

QUETTA: Armed militants killed the younger brother of former provincial minister Zahoor Buledi in the Kech district of Balochistan on Wednesday.

Levies sources said two people on a motorcycle opened fire at the vehicle of Noor Ahmed Buledi near Buleda dam area of Turbat. The younger brother of the former provincial minister was shot dead on the spot.

The militants fled from the scene after the attack. Noor Ahmed Buledi was also the cousin of National Party MPA Muhammad Azeem Buledi. The incident comes two weeks after the killing of a nephew of Spokesman Chief Minister Balochistan, Jan Muhammad Buledi in the same area.

Jan Mohammad Buledi was the central secretary information of the National Party led by Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch. Levies officials initially said they suspected Baloch separatists of being involved in the killing of Jan Mohammad Buledi.

Later on the defunct Balochistan Liberation Tigers had claimed responsibility for the attack.

< Dawn News >

Baloch Militants Killed 13 labourers in Bolan district

They were going home to celebrate Eid with their families. Little did they know that their lives would be snuffed out by cold-blooded murderers. Thirteen people – mostly day-labourers from Punjab – were pulled out of passenger buses and shot at pointblank range in an ethnically-motivated attack in Bolan district on Tuesday.

The Baloch Liberation Army, one of several proscribed groups responsible for most separatist and ethnic violence in Balochistan, claimed credit for the grisly killings in the Machh area of Bolan, some 80 kilometres away from Quetta.

The assault was carried out by 150-200 insurgents, who were dressed in the uniforms of paramilitary Frontier Corps and Balochistan Levies.

“The militants stopped five to six passenger coaches at two fake checkpoints on the main highway and snatched 13 passengers from Punjab after checking their national identity cards,” Bolan Deputy Commissioner Abdul Waheed Shah said. “The militants took them to the nearby mountains and shot them dead.”

Two of the slain passengers belonged to the security agencies: one was from Pakistan Army and the other from Kalat Scouts. The militants spared two Seraiki-speaking passengers.

Machh Assistant Commissioner Khasif Muhamamd Shai confirmed the incident and said the bullet-riddled bodies had been recovered.

The bodies were shifted to Quetta’s Civil Hospital in the afternoon. All the victims were shot in the head. They were identified as Ahmed Ali, Shakeel Ahmed, Muhammad Bakhsh, Muhammad Asif, Muhamamd Aslam, Saqib Ali, Hawaldar Arshad, Shahid, Shakeel Ahmed, Abdul Malik, Muhamamd Ashraf, Shaukat Ali, Lans Naik Safeer Ahmed. All of them hailed from different regions of Punjab.

Muhammad Yousaf, who lost a relative in the attack, said that most of the men were day-labourers who had gone over to Iran in search of work. “I was also scheduled to travel to Alipur in Punjab – but now this tragedy happened,” Yousaf told The Express Tribune at the Civil Hospital’s mortuary.

Another man who lost his brother and a nephew told journalists that they belonged to the impoverished Rahim Yar Khan district of Punjab and worked at an optician’s shop here. “Four of my relatives were travelling to Rahim Yar Khan. The militants killed my brother and nephew and spared the two others,” he added.

BLA spokesman Meerak Baloch claimed responsibility for the killings. “These 13 people were either employees of the army or of other security institutions,” he told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

The spokesman said the insurgents kidnapped 25 people, but later let seven passengers and five security personnel go. “An FC patrol party tried to follow us, so we killed two of them while another two were injured,” he added.

Governor Muhammad Khan Achakzai and Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch condemned the incident and ordered the arrest of the killers

< Express Tribune >

Baloch VS Baloch: BLA killed Son, brother and nephew of Sardar Zehri

QUETTA, April 16: Four people were killed when an election convoy of PML-N’s Balochistan leader Sardar Sanaullah Zehri came under a bomb attack in Anjira area of Khuzdar on Tuesday.

Sardar Zehri survived the attack but his son, brother and nephew and a guard were killed. At least 25 people were injured.

The PML-N leader is contesting for one national and one provincial assembly seats from Khuzdar and Kalat districts.

The banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the bomb attack. In a call from an unspecified place, BLA’s spokesman Jiand Baloch told BBC that his organisation had carried out the attack.


Sources said there were about 30 vehicles in the convoy. The powerful blast took place at a bridge near the Anjira area of Zehri tehsil. “The son of Sardar Zehri, his brother, nephew and a guard were killed on the spot when their vehicle was blown up,” Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Khuzdar Range, told Dawn. Three other vehicles were badly damaged, he said.

“The blast took place when the bullet-proof vehicle of Sardar Zehri had crossed the bridge,” the sources said. Some reports suggesting that Sardar Zehri had received minor injuries were not confirmed by officials and PML-N sources.

Commissioner of Kalat division Dr Mohammad Akbar said that an improvised explosive device (IED) planted under the bridge was detonated with remote control, but it could not explode because of jammers in the Sardar vehicle. But the IED hit the vehicle carrying his son Sikandar Zehri, brother Mir Meharullah Zehri, nephew Zaib Zehri, killing them and the guard whose identity could not ascertained till late night.

The commissioner said the district administration had not been informed about the movement of the convoy. Besides, Dr Akbar said, Levies Force personnel posted in the area were not trained and had no equipment to detect explosive devices. “It is the first blast of its nature in the area,” he said.

The injured were taken to the Khuzdar district hospital where at least five of them were in critical condition. Interior Minister Malik Habib has asked Balochistan’s inspector general of police to submit a report about the incident.

After the bomb attack, the provincial government strengthened security of Sardar Sanaullah Zehri and deployed 25 soldiers of Anti-Terrorist Force and Levies Force.

< Dawn News >

In Pictures: Carnage in Quetta, The day after

As many as 102 people had been reported killed on Thursday night in suicide and car bomb blasts in Quetta’s Alamdar Road area whereas 12 people were reported killed the same day when a bomb went off near a vehicle of the Frontier Corps at Bacha Khan Chowk.

< Dawn News >