Father, son among 5 killed in Turbat blast

Five people including a Baloch tribal elder killed by a remote-controlled bomb.

QUETTA:

Five people, including a father and son, were killed when their vehicle was attacked with a remote-controlled bomb near Turbat on Thursday.

Well-known local of Turbat Rahm Dil, along with his son and three guards, was killed instantly in the powerful explosion.

Banned outfit Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) claimed responsibility for the blast. A spokesperson for the BLF said that Rahm Dil had been warned several times to stop any negative activity in the area, but he had ignored the warning.

According to a senior police officer, the remote-controlled device was planted along a small bridge near Kehwar, some 40-kilometre from Turbat, and was detonated when Rahm Dil passed by. As a result of the blast, all the five people in the car were instantly killed.

Two of the deceased were identified as Bahar, Rahm Dil’s son, and his security guard Beberg. “The other two bodies cannot be identified as they were completely burnt,” an official said, adding that Rahm Dil was returning from his in-laws’ house in the Balicha area.

Levies personnel rushed to the spot soon after the incident and took the bodies to a government-run hospital in Tump for medico-legal formalities.

“Around 10 to 12 kilogrammes of explosive material was used in the blast and the vehicle was completely gutted,” a levies official said.

A few months ago, the BLF also claimed responsibility for killing Rahm Dil’s elder brother Noor Mohammad.

Meanwhile, two persons were killed in an incident of firing near Kalat, about 145 km from Quetta, the police said. The victims, who were identified as Wadera Dad Mohammad and Haji Abdul Rahim, were on a motorbike when unknown assailants opened fire on them and fled the scene.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2011.