Balochistan unrest: Two policemen shot dead in Naushki

Elderly woman dies in roadside blast.

QUETTA: Gunmen riding a motorcycle killed two policemen who were patrolling a neighourhood in the Batao area of Naushki district on Monday.

The Naushki police identified the slain policemen as assistant sub-inspector Sultan Muhammad and constable Ejaz Ahmed. Their patrol vehicle was about 10 kilomtres off Naushki city when the assailants targeted them.

“Robberies are common in this area where dozens of trucks and buses are looted daily,” a senior official at Nushki police station told The Express Tribune. A few hours before the killings, unidentified men had opened fire on a truck in the same area, he added.

The two policemen were apparently on the lookout for robbers in Batao when they were ambushed. “The assailants shot the police officials multiple times with automatic weapons, killing them instantly,” he said.

The Naushki police and Balochistan Levies have jointly mounted a search operation in the area.

Separately, a 70-year-old woman was killed in a roadside explosion on main Oshab Road of Turbat. According to an official of Turbat Levies, unidentified men had planted an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) along Oshab Road.

An elderly woman, identified as Shahari Sawali, was passing by the area when the bomb went off. Sawali received multiple wounds and died on the spot. The possible target of the bombing could not be known. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bomb attack.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2015.