Four policemen killed in Mastung

Gunmen take away weapons and salaries of 83 policemen.

QUETTA: Four policemen, among them a head constable, were killed in an ambush near the Kardgap area in Mastung Town, 45 kilometres from the provincial capital, on Sunday. The attackers also took away two official rifles and salaries of 83 policemen, a police official said.

Sources said a police van carrying salaries of policemen was travelling from Kalat to Naushki district when armed men opened indiscriminate fire on it near Kardgap, an outskirt of Mastung Town.

All the four occupants of the van received multiple bullet wounds to their upper torsos and died on the spot. The assailants managed to escape unchallenged.

“The incident took place in an unpopulated area. The policemen were carrying salaries of the Naushki district police,” District Police Officer (DPO) Mastung, Abdul Ghafoor Marri told The Express Tribune. He confirmed that the attackers also took away official weapons, including two rifles and 120 rounds.

He said that it could be a robbery and the robbers might have opened fire after resistance from policemen, he added. The stolen amount is stated to be around Rs1million.

The bodies were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital Mastung where they were identified as Head Constable Nazir Ahmed Lehri, Constables Muhammad Arif, Muhammad Saeed and driver Nazir Ahmed. The bodies were then referred to a hospital in Quetta for autopsy.

Police and Levies forces threw a security cordon around the area and mounted a manhunt. Teams of police officers, crime branch and Levies officials have also been formed to investigate the matter.

Nato supply vehicles attacked

In other violence, gunmen torched two containers, carrying military hardware for Nato forces stationed in Afghanistan, near the Mongechar area in Kalat district, 145 kilometres southeast of Quetta.

Sources said that two containers were travelling to Chaman border from Karachi when gunmen riding on a motorbike intercepted them on the RCD Highway. They asked the drivers and cleaners to get down before setting fire to the containers.

The containers were completely destroyed as there were no fire tenders available in the district. The attackers managed to escape. The Levies have registered a case against unknown attackers and started investigations.

There has been an upsurge in attacks on Nato supply vehicles in Balochistan for the last one year. And according to an official tally so far 122 oil tankers and containers have been attacked in different parts of the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2010.