Balochistan firing: 18 killed as van catches fire
Senior local official Abdul Mansoor Kakar told AFP that four gunmen opened fire on the van with automatic rifles, igniting petrol drums by the roadside and triggering a massive inferno.
A number of stalls selling petrol smuggled from Iran were engulfed in the fire, Kakar said, with stallholders among the dead.
"Four attackers riding motorbikes opened fire on these petrol stalls and ran away after the attack," Kakar told AFP.
"At least 18 people have been killed in the fire. The dead included seven women and four children sitting in the passenger van."
Doctor Akbar Harifal, the top administrative official in Khuzdar confirmed the new death toll, which rose sharply from a previous tally of seven.
Eleven of the 18 bodies have been identified, Kakar said, but hospital officials reported that some were burned so badly that recognition was difficult.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
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Balochistan is now the second most serious issue of Pakistan(the first being taliban),but is not given adequate attention by media and government alike.What ever the issue might be, it needs to be solved urgently, and i for one think that government and the establishment has the capacity to solve it, all it needs is just the will to start making things better.
Agree with S K Afridi. A lot about Balochistan goes completely untold. We are told the whole year round that Balochis want freedom, and it's proven wrong on every national holiday. The truth is, Balochis want rights, not an "Azad Balochistan" as the media will have you believe, only 37% of Baloch people and 11% of the Pashtun population want freedom. These are undeniable Gallup poll results. And I quite agree with their demand for more rights.
And yes, the truth is this: When the BLA kills innocent civilians, they're called freedom fighters and when the army kills members of the BLA, they're called occupiers and the terrorists are automatically innocent. I still want an end to the military operation, but the media is playing an extremely negative and demoralizing role here. Every achievement is taunted, and every failure dramatized.
@mano: It is not the question of blaming others. We must open our eyes to see what all is cooking up in Afghanistan due the large scale presence and influence of various Armies and their intelligence wings. Also try to understand the situation in the back drop of US designs against Iran. Today there is no security arrangement in Baluchistan. On the demand of Baloach Sardars 95% of area of Baluchistan has been declared as "B" area by the PPP Government. Hence in "B" area we do not have the police even. These areas are being administered by the Baloach Nawabs and to do that they have levies as their personal armies. Unfortunately instead of understanding the plans of Pakistan's enemies we start blaming our own institutions, may be due to strong propaganda of hostile foreign media.
@S K Afridi: stop blaming others for your bad karma and start looking at the mirror
There has been so much propaganda against the Army and FC that the Government had to Withdraw the troops to cantonments. Now the field is open for the foreign agents to do whatever they actually had planned to do. Now there is no one to check their activities and miscreants supported by RAW/Afghan intelligence and Black Water are operating at will.
@FJ: There are no Hazaras in Khuzdar area.
ET why are you not keeping people informed on the identity of the victims. When its Shias, Baluch, Hazara then the head line screams, but when a poor sunni or punajbi dies you keep mum. why this policy?
A shoot-out implies that both sides were armed and firing at each other. From the report there is no indication that this was the case. It appears to have been a one-sided affair.
had they been shia it would have been metioned probably sunnis
@TightPatloon: You are right and for this purpose incendiary bullets are used which are special type of bullets for these types of acts but normally these bullets are not available in the market.
Probably poor people were shia Hazara Muslim:(
Very sad. The FIA should investigate this thoroughly. I am doubtful the petrol cans can burst with gunfire. This myth was busted on mythbusters
Kindly tell the Ethnicity and Religious background of the people who were shot inside the van. Also in my view Incendiary Bullets are used to cause fire by firing at the tank of the car and our terrorists are much aware of this fact as ordinary bullets dont cause such fire so in my view it was intentional to burn the victims inside and in Balochistan many victims had been burnt in the past as well by this tactic and Our Police must clamp down that who is providing them with such bullets as these bullets are not available in the open market and even hunters cannot have these types of bullets..
we want balochistan free..................