Easy recruits: Quetta police detain 11 child ‘bombers’
Some boys confess involvement in about a dozen blasts in the city.
Police officials produce the children (faces blurred) suspected of planting bombs before the media. PHOTO: AFP
QUETTA:
Quetta police on Wednesday arrested around a dozen children, some as young as 10, suspected of being used by a separatist group to plant bombs, while eight other minors on a wanted list were being hunted around, officers said.
The arrests were made in raids over the past 24 hours, Capital City Police Officer Mir Zubair Mehmood said, while presenting the children at a news conference in Quetta.
The banned Baloch militant organisation United Baloch Army (UBA)’s Abdul Nabi Bungulzai lured the children, who came from poor families, to leave packages containing home-made bombs in markets, dustbins and on routes used by police and security forces, Mehmood said.
He went on to add that the militants chose the youngsters knowing that police would not suspect small children or garbage collectors.
“Some of the children said they did not know what the packets contained and what they are doing,” he said.
“They said they were happy they would get a small amount of money for dropping the packets.”
Some of the boys, aged between 10 and 17, have confessed to involvement in about a dozen blasts in the city, including a bombing near a vehicle of the Frontier Corps (FC), he said.
One of the boys, given a chance to speak during the press conference, said he had been paid Rs3,000 per target, adding that he along with three others were ‘selected’ to carry out the January 10 bomb blast near Quetta’s Bacha Khan Chowk which killed two FC soldiers and nine civilians.
The boy said he had been enrolled in school till the 9th grade, after which he dropped out. DIG investigation Syed Mubeen Shah said the boy’s father was an “honest and dutiful police officer” while he had been misguided by militants.
When asked about the future of the detained children, the police officials said the provincial government would be requested to take special steps for their rehabilitation.
The police officials said UBA was planning terror attacks near the Brewery Road when police launched a raid against the militants.
“Besides installing 529 secret cameras, 1,200 more security personnel would be recruited,” said Mehmood, adding that Bangulzai was allegedly involved in multiple attacks in Quetta.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 14th, 2013.
Quetta police on Wednesday arrested around a dozen children, some as young as 10, suspected of being used by a separatist group to plant bombs, while eight other minors on a wanted list were being hunted around, officers said.
The arrests were made in raids over the past 24 hours, Capital City Police Officer Mir Zubair Mehmood said, while presenting the children at a news conference in Quetta.
The banned Baloch militant organisation United Baloch Army (UBA)’s Abdul Nabi Bungulzai lured the children, who came from poor families, to leave packages containing home-made bombs in markets, dustbins and on routes used by police and security forces, Mehmood said.
He went on to add that the militants chose the youngsters knowing that police would not suspect small children or garbage collectors.
“Some of the children said they did not know what the packets contained and what they are doing,” he said.
“They said they were happy they would get a small amount of money for dropping the packets.”
Some of the boys, aged between 10 and 17, have confessed to involvement in about a dozen blasts in the city, including a bombing near a vehicle of the Frontier Corps (FC), he said.
One of the boys, given a chance to speak during the press conference, said he had been paid Rs3,000 per target, adding that he along with three others were ‘selected’ to carry out the January 10 bomb blast near Quetta’s Bacha Khan Chowk which killed two FC soldiers and nine civilians.
The boy said he had been enrolled in school till the 9th grade, after which he dropped out. DIG investigation Syed Mubeen Shah said the boy’s father was an “honest and dutiful police officer” while he had been misguided by militants.
When asked about the future of the detained children, the police officials said the provincial government would be requested to take special steps for their rehabilitation.
The police officials said UBA was planning terror attacks near the Brewery Road when police launched a raid against the militants.
“Besides installing 529 secret cameras, 1,200 more security personnel would be recruited,” said Mehmood, adding that Bangulzai was allegedly involved in multiple attacks in Quetta.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 14th, 2013.