GILGIT/QUETTA – Gilgit and Balochistan again came under terrorist attackson Saturday in which 3 policemen were martyred, while eight others,including three Chinese engineers, were injured.
Three police personnel were martyred and two others were injured afterterrorists attacked a check post in Kargah area of Gilgit early Saturdaymorning. According to police, eight to 10 terrorists attacked the checkpost in Manjiye area of Kargah, located at a distance of 45 kilometres fromGilgit. Police said two terrorists were also killed in retaliatory fire.The injured personnel were taken to District Headquarters Hospital Gilgit,while police cordoned off the area and launched a search operation.
According to SSP Tanveer Ahmed, one of the attackers has been identified asKhalil. The attacker was wanted in several cases. A number of terrorismincidents have been reported from Gilgit Baltistan region lately. Earlierin August, at least 12 girls schools were attacked in Chilas, which issituated at a distance of 130 kilometres from Gilgit. Unidentified peopleattacked the schools and damaged the property. It was also said theattackers torched some items in the schools and set off bombs in two ofthem. Following the attack, search operations were carried out in theregion during which at least 16 suspects were arrested, according to the GBgovernment.
Meanwhile, six people were injured in a suicide blast near a bus carryingemployees of Saindak Copper-Gold Project in Dalbandin, Chaghi. A suicidebomber attempted to attack the bus but did not succeed, a Levies source wasquoted as saying by Geo News. The Commissioner Quetta Division MuhammadHashim Ghilzai confirmed that a suicide bomber detonated explosives nearthe bus. “Three foreigners and three FC personnel were injured in theblast,” the commissioner said. The injured were shifted to a nearbyhospital.
“The attacker, waiting in a small truck along the route (detonated) thevehicle when the bus carrying Chinese engineers came close to him,” saidDostain Dashti, a senior police officer in the region. Saifullah Khaitran,a senior local administration official, confirmed the attack, adding thatall the injured were in stable condition. Muhammad Ibrahim, the driver ofthe targeted bus, told AFP from his hospital bed that he had averted majorloss by slamming the brakes before the bus hit the attacker´s vehicle. “Thewhole bus would have burnt if I had not applied the brakes,” he said.Baloch insurgents later claimed responsibility for the attack. “We targetedthis bus which was carrying Chinese engineers,” Jihand Baloch, aspokesperson for Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), told AFP by phone. “Weattacked them because they are extracting gold from our region, we won’tallow it,” he said. Saindak Copper-Gold Mine is located near Saindak townin Chaghi district of Balochistan. The discovery of copper deposits atSaindak was made in the 1970s in collaboration with a Chinese engineeringfirm.
The Caretaker chief minister of Balochistan Allauddin Marri condemned thebus attack. He sought a report of the incident from the districtadministration and ordered effective measures for security of Chineseengineers. Pakistan and China strongly condemned the attack on Chineseengineers in Dalbandin. The Foreign Office spokesman Dr Muhammad Faisal onhis official Twitter account said all of the injured were stable and beingtreated. “Pakistan remains unflinchingly undeterred in the face of suchdastardly terrorist acts,” he tweeted. – Agencies