DPO escapes Pasni attack that kills 2 policemen

The attackers fire rocket-propelled grenades followed by a hail of gunshots

QUETTA: A senior police chief escaped a militant attack that left two of his guards dead in the restive Gwadar district of Balochistan on Saturday.

Asghar Ali Yousafzai, the district police officer (DPO) in Khuzdar, was travelling on the Coastal Highway in Pasni when suspected Baloch insurgents ambushed his convoy, a police officer told The Express Tribune by phone from the region.

The attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades followed by a hail of gunshots, he said, adding that DPO Yousafzai remained unhurt in the attack which left two constables dead and another wounded.

Deputy Commissioner Hameed Abro told The Express Tribune that there were three vehicles in the convoy: the DPO’s staff car and two police escort mobiles. One police mobile was destroyed in the attack, resulting in the death of constables Inyat Ali and Rehmatullah, he added.

Local Levies sources, however, said that DPO Yousafzai, along with his family, was travelling to Gwadar to attend the wedding of a relative when a rocket fired from some unknown location hit a vehicle escorting the DPO staff car.

Pasni tehsildar Mohammed Arif said that the attackers managed to flee after the attack. “They fired several RPGs at the convoy, but missed their main target,” he added.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The banned Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) claimed responsibility for most such attacks in the past.

This is not the first such attack on senior police officers. In November 2014, the DPO Kech survived a deadly attack in the Tump area of Gwadar. Pasni is one of the troubled areas of Balochistan where militants often target police, security forces and government installation.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2015.