Two Levies men among six martyred in attacks

Balochistan CM vows to bring culprits behind attacks to justice

QUETTA:

Two Levies personnel were among six people martyred in three separate attacks in different areas of Balochistan.

The Levies force sources said four coal miners were killed as armed men opened fire at a mine in the Khost area of Harnai. Three coal miners were also injured in the attack.

The attackers managed to flee after spraying the mine with bullets. The injured coal miners were rushed to the district headquarters hospital in Harnai for medical treatment.

An emergency was declared in the hospital to provide urgent medical treatment to the injured persons.

In Chaman, armed men opened fire at a Levies man, wounding him critically. The sources said armed men attacked the Levies station in the Killi Sohbat area of Chaman.

The injured Levies man succumbed to the injuries on his way to the hospital. The attackers fled on motorcycles after injuring their fellow officer, the Levies said.

Separately, another Levies man was martyred in a landmine explosion while five others were injured in Kohlu’s Janat Ali Union Council area.

Risaldar Major Sher Muhammad Marri said the Levies personnel were going to the union council for local government election duty when their vehicle hit a land mine. The Levies man was martyred on the spot.

Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo strongly condemned all three terrorist attacks, directing the administration to arrest the culprits behind the heinous crimes.

In a statement issued after the three attacks, CM Bizenjo vowed to bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice. He directed the administration to submit a report in this regard.

On Sunday, at least five people embraced martyrdom and 15 others were injured in a bomb explosion in Balochistan’s Rakhni tehsil of Barkhan district.

Barkhan Deputy Commissioner Abdullah Khoso said unidentified miscreants had planted an improvised explosive device (IED) on a motorcycle parked outside a barber shop.

The people injured in the blast were rushed to the Rakhni hospital.

Khoso said 10 of them had suffered critical injuries and were referred to a medical facility in Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab. However, one of them succumbed to injuries.

"Six of the injured people are being treated in Rakhni,” he added.

Police and Levies personnel rushed to the scene and collected evidence for investigation.

The blast was heard throughout Rakhni – in fact it was so loud that it even caused panic in the nearby town located in the bordering Punjab.

The explosion smashed the glasses of nearby shops and vehicles parked in the area.

The shopkeepers in the area pulled down shutters.

Unverified video clips circulating on social media showed bodies being carried away from the scene by volunteers.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2023.