Two security guards killed in Gwadar ambush

Slain guards went down protecting oil and gas exploration company’s survey team

QUETTA: Baloch separatists ambushed a survey team of an oil and gas exploration company in a coastal town on Saturday, killing two security guards.

The outlawed Baloch Liberation Front (BLF), one of the deadliest separatist groups, claimed responsibility for the ambush in the Pasni town of Gwadar district.

The survey team belonged to the Coal Geophysical Company (CGC), which was conducting a survey for the Oil and Gas Development Corporation (OGDC) in the Dando area of Kolanch in Pasni, according to sources.

When the BLF militants mounted the assault, the security guards escorting the survey team challenged them, triggering a gunfight.  Two of the guards were killed while protecting the CGC officials.

Gwadar’s Deputy Commissioner Dr Tufal Baloch said the attackers had managed to escape after the deadly ambush. Sources added that the assailants also took along a vehicle of the company.

“The security guards killed in the gunfight belonged to a private security company,” said Pasni’s assistant commissioner. He added that security forces have mounted a manhunt in the area for the attackers.

BLF spokesman Sarbaz Baloch called media houses in Quetta to claim credit for the deadly assault.

In other violence, a man was killed and another injured in a landmine blast in the Chattar area of Nasirabad district on Saturday.

Hafeezullah, along with Tagya Khan, was travelling on motorcycle, when their two-wheeler hit a landmine possibly planted by Baloch separatists, according to sources. Hafeezullah died on the spot while Khan received injuries.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, but Baloch separatists have been blamed for such violence in the past.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2016.