Bodies of kidnapped polio workers, police guards found in Zhob

Bodies found a day after security forces conduct search operation during which two suspects blew themselves up

QUETTA: Bodies of a polio worker, his driver and two Balochistan Levies constables kidnapped four days ago in Zhob district were found on Tuesday.

According to a Levies official, the polio worker, driver and Levies guards were shot dead before their bodies were thrown in a desolated part of Gowal Ismailzai area in Zhob district. “Some passersby spotted the bodies in Gowal Ismailzai and informed the officials,” he said.

A day before, on February 16, two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the same area while briefly encountering security forces during a search operation to find the polio team. The operation was jointly launched by Balochistan Levies and security forces in Barkwal and Murghab Kibzai areas, a Frontier Corps (FC) spokesperson had confirmed on Monday. The ambulance in which the polio team was traveling when it went missing was found from the area.

The deceased were identified as polio vaccinator Abdul Hameed, driver Abdul Samad and Balochistan Levies constables Mohammed Ayub and Mohammed Naseem. They all were residents of Zhob and a huge crowd had gathered at the hospital the bodies were taken to after they were found.

The enraged relatives resorted to aerial firing to express their anger. All the shops and markets in Zhob city were closed after relatives and people took to the streets. “The situation is very tense and people are angry at security forces who are unable to trace the culprits,” a senior official said when reached via phone.

The polio team went missing from Toda Kibzai area on February 13. Later that day Deputy Commissioner Zhob Nazir Mohammed Kithran had confirmed that the workers and they guards were kidnapped by Taliban extremists.

The killings are being considered as a serious blow to the state of security in Zhob district where forces have carried out several large-scale search operations since the beginning of this year.