Manhunt for kidnappers: Girl among two killed as FC raids house in Khuzdar

Five people, including security officials, injured.

QUETTA: A 12-year-old girl was among two people killed in an exchange of fire between Frontier Corps (FC) personnel and suspects in a raid at the house of a tribal elder Anyatullah Khan Zehri in Zehri Tehsil of Khuzdar, about 300-kilometer from Quetta. Five people, including FC officials, were wounded in the incident.

Home Secretary Balochistan Asad Gilani told The Express Tribune that the FC carried out the raid on the basis of intelligence reports saying a gang of kidnappers was hiding inside the house. “Security forces arrested four suspects during the raid. These suspects were involved in kidnappings,” Asad Gilani added.

Deputy Commissioner Khuzdar district Abdul Waheed Shah said the local administration was not told about the raid. “I came to know about the raid after I received a call from Zehri House saying FC officials had besieged the house,” he said.

Home Secretary Asad Gilani said the FC has the power to carry out raids without informing local administration. “The administration was informed after the raid was carried out,” he added. The suspects were taken to Quetta for interrogation.

Khuzdar is one of Balochistan’s highly sensitive areas and has witnessed the worst law and order situation over the last couple of years.

In 2011, French organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) declared Khuzdar the most dangerous place for journalists to work in.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2014.