Six Levies personnel martyred in Ziarat attack

Unidentified assailants opened indiscriminate fire on the Levies check post


Muhammad Zafar March 20, 2019
Back on August 12, 15 people, mostly military men, were martyred and dozens wounded – some of them critically – in a terrorist attack targeting an army truck in a high-security neighbourhood of Quetta on Saturday night. PHOTO: EXPRESS

QUETTA: Six personnel of Balochistan Levies Force were martyred on Tuesday night during an intense terrorist attack on a checkpoint in the outskirts of Balochistan’s Ziarat district.

Official sources said the tragic incident took place in the Sanjavi area of scenic Ziarat valley.

They said the personnel were posted at the checkpoint located at Lal Katai along Sanjavi-Loralai road. This checkpoint was attacked with heavy weapons at night by unknown terrorists.

“All the six Levies men manning the check post were martyred in the attack,” said Ziarat Deputy Commissioner Qadir Bakhsh Parkani.

He said the terrorists also took away the official weapons after the attack. “The people of the area informed the local administration of Sanjavi about the incident in the morning,” he added.

Four FC troops injured in attack on convoy in Kech

Later personnel of the Levies and the Frontier Corps rushed to the site, cordoned off the area and shifted the bodies to district hospital. Sanjavi’s assistant commissioner also visited the site. Security forces also launched a combing search operation in the area.

“All the six Levies men received multiple bullet injuries, which caused their instant death,” a hospital official said.  They were identified as Mehtab-ud-Din, Abdul Hakeem, Faqir Muhammad, Muhammad Usman, Abdul Shakoor and Dad Muhammad.

The bodies were later handed over after autopsy to the local administration which brought them to Sanjavi where their funeral prayers were offered.

Balochistan Minister for Public Health Engineering Noor Muhammad Dummar, Commandant Loralai Scouts Col Aamir Mukhtiar, Sibi division commissioner, Ziarat deputy commissioner and large number of other officials and people attended the funeral prayers.

Later the bodies were handed over to the heirs who took them to their native towns for burial.

The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in a massage sent to media later claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it took revenge of the recent killings of the TTP operatives by security forces.

Expressing sorrow and grief, Balochistan Chef Minister Jam Kamal and Home Minister Ziaullah Langove strongly condemned the killing and condoled with families on the martyred officials. They said elements involved in this barbarian act will be taken to task soon.

Such elements would not be allowed to create unrest among the people, they said in a statement.

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