Target killings claim three more lives

Police say four people were in a vehicle when assailants riding a motorcycle opened fire at them.

QUETTA: Three persons were shot dead and a man sustained bullet injuries in what was said to be a case of target killing in Hazarganji, near the provincial capital.

Police said four people were in a vehicle when assailants riding a motorcycle opened fire at them as they left the market. The attack occurred near the Shalkot police station. Two victims died on the spot while as many received bullet injuries. The perpetrators managed to escape from the scene.

Police officials rushed to the spot soon after the incident and cordoned off the area. The bodies and the injured were taken to the Bolan Medical College Teaching Hospital where one of the injured succumbed to his injuries.

“Two victims belonged to one sect and one was an ehtnic Pakhtun, hailing from Ghulistan. It could be an incident of target killing but I am not sure whether it was a sectarian killing,” Superintendent of Police Saryab, Shahnawaz Khan told The Express Tribune via phone.

He said that police were making investigations into the incident.

However, other police officials confirmed that it was a case of target killing. The bodies were handed over to relatives after medico-legal formalities were completed. A case was not registered till the filing of this report.

In another incident, three people were injured when a government-run school was attacked with a hand grenade in the industrial town Hub in Lasbela district.

Unidentified assailants hurled a hand grenade on a Government High School in Hub town, which landed inside the school, sources said. As result of the blast, three employees suffered splinter wounds.

The attackers escaped from the scene and the injured were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Those wounded were later taken to Karachi because of their serious condition.

“The incident took place early in the morning and the aim was to spread panic among the children. Students were in the classrooms when the blast occurred,” a senior police officer said.

Meanwhile, a group of enraged students blocked the RCD Highway in protest of the attack on their school. The protesting students chanted slogans against the administration for their failure to maintain peace. Traffic was restored after a few hours of disruption.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2010.