11 killed as terrorists strike in Nushki

QUETTA: In another tragic incident in Balochistan, unidentified militants have gunned down 11 persons, including nine passengers from Punjab, in Nushki district.

Nushki Deputy Commissioner Habibullah Musakhel said that on Friday night, more than a dozen militants blocked the Quetta-Nushki-Taftan N-40 National Highway at the hilly point of Sultan Chadhai around one kilometre away from Nushki.

The armed men started checking the vehicles after blocking the highway and opened fire on a vehicle that did not stop, the deputy commissioner said, adding that the driver of the vehicle was the brother of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Balochistan MPA Ghulam Dastgir Badini.

As a result of the firing, a tyre burst and the car overturned, due to which a relative of the MPA in the car was killed and four others were injured. One of the injured men later succumbed to his injuries at a hospital.

Musakhel explained that a motorcyclist was also hit by firing and injured.

An officer of the Nushki police said the militants also stopped a passenger bus going from Quetta to Taftan. They checked the CNICs of the passengers and abducted nine persons who had the address of Punjab.

The militants fled along with the abducted persons towards hills nearby. Nushki SHO Asad Mengal said that later, the bodies of all the nine persons were found under a bridge in the vicinity. All of them had been shot dead.

The murdered men belonged to Mandi Bahauddin, Wazirabad and Gujranwala. Nushki SP Allah Bukhsh said they were labourers who had boarded the bus for Taftan from Quetta.

Nushki Teaching Hospital MS Dr Zafar Mengal said the murdered men had been shot in various parts of their bodies.

The militants also fired rockets at an ordnance depot of the Nushki Frontier Corps (FC) militia. However, this did not result in any casualty or damage.

Police said armed Baloch separatist organisations could be responsible for the attack and they had initiated a search operation in the area along with the FC and other security forces to apprehend the suspects.

Balochistan CM Mir Sarfraz Bugti has condemned the murders of innocent passengers in Nushki and asserted that the terrorists involved in the crime would not be pardoned.

He said the murder of passengers was an inhuman and unforgivable crime.

He said the government would track down the terrorists responsible for killing unarmed and innocent civilians and eliminate the menace of terrorism.

Bugti said terrorists wanted to destroy Balochistan’s peace. He also offered condolences to the family members of the victims.