Balochistan CM vows to eradicate terrorism

Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Aliyani on Monday strongly condemned a blast that occurred on the Mall Road in Chaman, Killa Abdullah district in which five security personnel were martyred while 14 others were injured.

The chief minister expressed his deep sorrow over loss of precious lives in cowardly act of terrorism. He said terrorist elements wanted to destroy Chaman's peace to achieve their nefarious goals and added that the plan to install a fence on the Pak-Afghan border was an obstacle to the nefarious intentions of anti-state elements.

“The installation of the fence would eliminate terrorism and illegal transportation and could improve the law and order situation in the province, including in the border areas,” he said, adding that such cowardly attacks cannot weaken the morale of security forces and the public.

Kamal also asked for reports of the incident from the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Balochistan.

He said with the cooperation of law enforcement agencies and the people, full peace would be ensured in all areas of the province, including Chaman, as the protection of life and property and maintaining peace was the top priority of the government.

The chief minister expressed his firm commitment to eradicate terrorism completely from the province. He also expressed his condolences to the families of the martyrs and prayed for early recovery of the injured of the blast, directing health authorities to provide best treatment to the wounded.

Earlier, police sources told APP regarding the blast that unknown miscreants had installed an IED with a motorbike and parked in front of Haji Nida Market on the Mall Road.

The IED planted on a motorbike went off leaving five people martyred while 14 others injured, some of them critically, police said adding that the injured were moved to district headquarters hospital.

Few victims having critical injuries were shifted to Quetta, the local administration said.

Three of martyred were identified as Hikmatullah, Muhammad Shafi and Muhammad Jalil. The security forces cordoned off the area after the blast and launched a search for the culprits.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th, 2020.