15 killed as gunmen torch bus in Sibi

Police refuse to confirm death toll, or even that it was an attack.

QUETTA:

Nine of the 15 people killed in the Sibi bus attack have been identified.

The identified bodies have now been handed over to their relatives.

Deputy Commissioner Sibi has announced Rs10,000 aid for the families of each killed.

Updated from print edition (below)

12 killed as gunmen torch bus in Sibbi

At least 12 people, including six children and two women, were burnt alive when gunmen torched a passenger coach near a roadside restaurant on the National Highway in Sibi district, about 160 kilometres away from here on Monday night.

“Three heavily-armed men came to the roadside restaurant on foot, sprinkled petrol on the Peshawar-Quetta-bound passenger coach and set it on fire,” said eyewitness Riasat Ali.

“The coach had pulled over at the restaurant about five kilometres from Sibi city for dinner,” said Assistant Commissioner Sibi Shahzeb Mandokhel. “Many people were burnt to death,” he said but refused to say how many.

Sibi-based journalist Akram Bangulzai while confirming the death toll said that the bodies were mutilated and charred beyond recognition.

The personnel of police and Balochistan levies, along with rescue workers, rushed to the spot while fire tenders from Sibi reached the spot after half an hour.

The assailants fled the scene unchallenged. The area where the incident took place comes under the jurisdiction of Sadar police station – about a kilometre away from a police checkpoint.

However, Syed Farid Shah, District Police Officer Sibi, refused to confirm the death toll, saying that the incident took place when a large number of passengers were having dinner at the restaurant.

“Perhaps some children and women were present in the coach when it ‘caught’ fire,” he said by phone. He added that it was premature to say that it was ‘set on fire’ by somebody.

Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack till our going to the press. And the motive behind the gruesome attack could also be not ascertained immediately.

The driver and cleaner of the passenger coach fled the scene after the incident. Law enforcers have mounted a manhunt in the area for the culprits and the driver and cleaner.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2011.