Global radar damaged in Pasni attack

Casualties were shifted to a state-run hospital where deceased was identified as Mohammed Jan, a resident of Turbat.

QUETTA: Armed men disguised as security personnel attacked a radar set up for international air traffic in the coastal district of Gwadar on Saturday evening, killing one security official and damaging the radar.

At least 12 attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) before opening indiscriminate fire on the Balochistan Constabulary (BC) personnel guarding the radar installation on a mountaintop about 30 kilometres away from Pasni airport.

The casualties were shifted to a state-run hospital where the deceased was identified as Mohammed Jan, a resident of Turbat.

The guards could not resist the onslaught for too long and the armed men finally prevailed, snatched official weapons from the BC guards before locking them in a room.

“Several Balochistan Constabulary personnel were guarding the radar at the time of attack,” a senior official of the provincial home department said, adding that the incident took place at 6:30pm. The attackers planted explosives near the radar and fled before reinforcements reached the spot. Bomb disposal squad officials were sent from Gwadar city to defuse the explosives,” Home Secretary Asad Gillani told The Express Tribune.

“The armed men also fired RPGs at the radar which was partially damaged,” a local official claimed. Gillani, however, said that “the radar system is still working”. He added that reinforcements have been sent to the area. The radar system was set up by the Central Eastern Treaty Organisation (Cento) to monitor international air traffic.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2014.