Frontier Corps targeted, five killed

Baloch Liberation Front claims responsibility for the attack.

QUETTA:

At least five Frontier Corps (FC) officers were killed, while five others were injured in a roadside explosion in Gomazi area of Tump, about 85 kilometres from Turbat, on Tuesday.

According to a FC spokesperson, six vehicles of the paramilitary force were heading towards Mand, a township bordering Iran, when an improvised explosive device (IED) placed on the road went off, killing five people instantly.

The targeted vehicles were completely destroyed in the attack claimed by banned outfit Baloch Liberation Front (BLF).  BLF spokesperson Doda Baloch calling from an unspecified location said: “Such attacks will continue until Balochistan is liberated.”

Officials in the Levies Thana Tump said the FC had prevented Levies forces personnel from examining the crime scene. Residents said FC officers detained two people for interrogations.

Meanwhile, Inspector General FC Balochistan Ubaidullah Khan condemned the attack. “Such cowardly attacks will not avert the FC from its mission,” he added. He added that FC personnel were investigating the incident. According to a Reuters report, the number of attacks from IED in Pakistan has grown by more than 145 per cent in the last four years.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 6^th, 2011.