QUETTA: The inferno in Balochistan intensified on Monday. As the
flames leapt higher, more bodies were discovered and explosions
continued to claim innocent lives.
The day began with the discovery of a body dumped near Turbat – mutilated and shot 30 times in the head and chest.
The body was of Baloch Republican Party (BRP) leader Sangat Sana –
missing since December 8, 2008. Sangat had been whisked away from the
Kolpur area in Bolan.
More horrors would follow.
A
remote-controlled explosion on a motorcycle
ripped through a security checkpoint in Dera Murad Jamali later in the
day. Security personnel escaped with their lives, but two children were
killed.
Security personnel, however, would not escape another attack – this
time near Chattar in Nasirabad district. Two personnel of the
Balochistan Constabulary (BC) were killed and two others sustained
injuries when a group of armed men ambushed a check post.
Later, almost as if to even things out, yet another ‘missing’ person’s body was found near Mand.
Sana’s body
Official sources said that Sana’s body was found near Murgab by some
passers-by, who informed the nearby Levies station. The body was shifted
to the Turbat District Headquarters Hospital, where locals identified
the deceased.
“The victim received over 30 bullets on his chest and hands,” an official of the Turbat police revealed.
Balochistan Levies said they have launched an investigation into the
incident. But clearly Sana’s family don’t buy into it. Sana’s father has
joined the hunger strike underway outside the Karachi Press Club.
Meanwhile, another missing person’s body was found near the Mand area
by the region’s Levies force on a tip-off. The body was identified as
Zardad, son of Akbar Khan, a resident of Kohistan, who was a fund
collector for local religious seminaries in Mand.
In the aftermath of Sana’s killing, the BRP, Baloch National Movement
(BNM) and Baloch Students Organisation announced a three-day
shutterdown strike and a four-day mourning period in protest.
Explosion, check post attack
Official security sources said that unidentified persons fitted
explosives on a motorcycle and parked it at the main road near Bakra
Mandi in Dera Murad Jamali. The device was detonated when a police
patrol van passed by the area.
As a result, two children walking in the area, reportedly aged
between 10 to 12 years, died on the spot. The police vehicle was also
destroyed in the attack. “It was a remote-controlled blast and police
have launched a manhunt in the area,” a senior police official stated.
The Baloch Republican Army, a banned militant outfit, claimed the
responsibility for the attack. A spokesperson of the BRA, who identified
himself as Sarbaz Baloch, called reporters from an undisclosed location
and said that the organisation had planted the remote control device.
DM Jamali police said the target of the attack was the police van
that was patrolling the area and investigations have been launched.
In the other incident, near Chattar in Nasirabad district two
personnel of the BC were killed and two others sustained injuries when a
group of armed men ambushed a check post.
According to officials, a group of men armed with automatic weapons
encircled a check post set up by the BC in the Shahenshah Kundi area and
opened fire at the personnel manning the check post.
As a result, BC Sub-Inspector Wahid Bhaksh and Constable Baddar Uddin
received multiple bullet wounds and died on the spot while two others
were critically wounded. There was no report of causalities on the part
of the attackers. No group had claimed responsibility for this attack
till this report was filed.
(
Read: Saving Balochistan)
Published in The Express Tribune, February 14th, 2012.
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