16 Punjabis killed in Balochistan Attacks

By : Bari Baloch

QUETTA – At least 16 Punjabi-speaking persons, including two security personnel, were shot dead while five others wounded in two separate incidents of target killings in Bolan District and Quetta on Saturday.

The Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for both the incidents. Unidentified armed assailants intercepted a passenger coach that was travelling to Quetta from Lahore at Aab-e-Gum area of Bolan District, some 60 kilometres southeast of Quetta on the night between Friday and Saturday. They asked all the passengers to show their identity cards.

Sources said that after identifying 12 passengers as residents of Punjab, the attackers separated them from rest of the passengers and took them to nearby mountains where they opened indiscriminate firing on them. As a result, 10 of them died on the spot and two others received serious wounds.

The assassins fled the scene after committing the crime under the cover of darkness. On getting information, personnel of Levi’s Force and Frontier Corps reached the site and cordoned off the area. The deceased and injured were shifted to Bolan Medical Complex Hospital Quetta, Civil Hospital and CMH. Five victims have been identified as Syed Fakhar, Maqsood Ahmed, Mudasir Ali and Muhammad Waris while the injured were identified as Sajjad, Bilal Arshad, Palwan, Mital Khan and Altaf Hussain.

The sources said that two victims belonged to security forces. However, Home Secretary Balochistan Akbar Hussain Durrani denied reports that two security personnel died in the attack.

Official sources said that bodies were moved to BMCH morgue and after completing legal formalities, they would be sent to their native towns after their identification.

Talking to newsmen, Bilal Arash, 25, who was also injured in the incident, said that a group of armed men held all passengers at gunpoint and started checking their identity cards. “They separated 12 people hailing from Punjab, including me and asked whether we belonged to security forces or agencies,” he said and added that later they took us to mountains and opened fire. Bilal said that he received bullet on his shoulder and fell down and after being satisfied that all were dead, the attackers escaped from the site. “I reached the highway and informed Levi’s about the incident,” he added.

Source: The Nation: August 15, 2010

16 settlers shot dead in Balochistan

QUETTA, Aug 14: At least 16 people were gunned down in two incidents of target killing in Quetta and Bolan district on Saturday, police said. All those killed belonged to Punjab.

Gunmen intercepted a Quetta-bound coach coming from Lahore in Aab-i-Gum area of Bolan district in the early hours of Saturday and forced 11 passengers to leave the vehicle and accompany them.

They took the 11 men to an open place and sprayed them with bullets.

“Ten passengers were killed on the spot as bullets hit their heads,” said Ismail Kurd, a senior official of the Mach town administration in district Bolan.

He said that one passenger, though injured in the shooting, escaped death as some bodies fell over him.

The sources said the gunmen also injured the cleaner of the passenger coach and driver of a tractor carrying some flood-affected people to Quetta before fleeing the scene.

The bodies and injured people were taken to Bolan Medical College hospital by police and Frontier Corps personnel.

“All the 10 people killed in firing belonged to different parts of Punjab,” official sources said, adding that five of them were identified as Falak Sher, Fakhar Abbas, Mohammad Waris, Maqsood Ahmed and Mudassar Ali and the injured included Mohammad Atif, Asad Bilal and Pehlwan.

In Quetta, six people were going home from work in Khilji Colony when three gunmen riding motorcycles attacked them.

“Armed men killed all the six persons on the road,” Hamid Shakeel, DIG Operation, told this correspondent. The men were labourers and belonged to Multan.

Police took the bodies to civil hospital.

Four were identified as Mohammad Idrees, Mohammad Sadiq, Abdul Rehman and Mohamad Salman.

A case was registered against unidentified killers.

Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the killings.

Source:DAWN: Sunday, 15 Aug, 2010

Ten Passengers Target Killed in Bolan

The Baloch Hal News

SIBI: Unidentified gunmen shot 10 passengers dead and injured another five on Saturday morning after intercepting the bus near ‘Aab-e-Gum’ area of district (Kachhi) Bolan.

According to police sources, the gunmen riding on bikes intercepted the passengers’ bus which was coming from Lahore to Quetta in the morning. They asked all passengers to dismount the bus and after identifying 15 passengers as residents of Punjab province, they opened fire at them.

The bodies and the injured have been shifted to Civil Hospital Quetta. The police viewed the incident as targeted killing on the occasion of Independence Day.

Meanwhile, one person died and 16 others were injured when a truck carrying flood-affected people overturned near Mithri.

In a seperate incident, four persons suffered injuries in a road mishap near Bakhtiarabad Domki who have been shifted to Sibi hospital.

According to one local news agency, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA0 accepted responsibility for the killings.

Source: http://thebalochhal.com/2010/08/ten-passengers-target-killed-in-bolan/

Six Labourers killed, 3 injured in Quetta Shootout

The Baloch Hal News

QUETTA: At least six labourers were shot dead and three others injured when gunmen opened fire at them in Khilji Abad Colony in thhe provicnial capital city on Saturday afternoon.

According to police, a group of labourers were residing at a rented house in Khilji Colony. Due to the Independence Day celeberatios, they were at the house. The armed men entered their house forcibly and opened fire at them, killing six on the spot and injuring three others.

The deceased were identified as Abdur Rehman, Muhammad Idrees, Muhammad Siddique and others. All of them hailed from Multan. The bodies and the injured were shifted to Bolam Medical Complex.

While the police were investigating the matter, no group has accepted responsibility for the killings yet.

Source: http://thebalochhal.com/2010/08/six-labourers-killed-3-injured-in-quetta-shootout/

BLA Target Kills Punjabi “Donkey-Traders”

The Baloch Hal News

QUETTA: Two Punjabis were gunned down and another sustained injuries in an incident of target killing in provincial capital on Saturday, police said.

Mohammad Rafiq, Abdul Hamid and Mohammad Faiz-ul-Hassan were sitting outside of the roadside hotel on Sabzal Road when unidentified men ridding a motorcycle sprayed them with bullets. The victims received multiple bullet wounds and rushed to Government Sandeman Hospital Quetta for treatment.

Two of the injured succumbed to their injuries on the way to the hospital where doctors pronounced them dead. The slain men belong to Faislabad.

“We are traders and export donkeys from Chaman to Faisalabad,” injured Hamid said adding that they were taking tea at a hotel when motorcyclists opened fire at them. “We have no enmity with any one and no clue about the attackers,” he added.

Police termed it as incident of “target killing” and mounted a search for the arrest of accused. “Police are making efforts to arrest the culprits,” an official said.

Azad Baloch, a spokesman of Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), has accepted the responsibility for the killings of Punjabies and said that they were spying for the intelligence agencies against on going Baloch struggle and that was attacked.

Chief Minister Balochistan, in an officially issued statement, strongly condemned the target killing of two Punjabis and ordered the concerned departments to take action against the elements responsible for the killings.

No arrests were made by the police until Saturday evening.

Source: http://thebalochhal.com/