QUETTA: Seven people, including a local government official, were killed in southwestern Pakistan on Monday evening in a blast caused by an improvised explosive device (IED), an official said.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s most sparsely populated province that has intermittently witnessed low-intensity insurgency for decades. The government has launched full-scale military operations as well as targeted interventions to quell the violence caused by separatist groups who claim they are fighting what they say is unfair exploitation of the province’s mineral resources.
Separatist groups have mounted attacks against security forces in Balochistan ever since a fragile truce between the state and the Pakistani Taliban or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke down in November 2022.
Abdul Wahid, an official at the control room managed by the paramilitary Levies force, said a Toyota Surf vehicle was targeted in the desolated area of Balgatar in district Kech, which lies some 140 kilometers away from Balochistan’s district Panjgur.
“Seven people, including Chairman Union Council Balgatar Ishaq Baloch alias Ishaq ‘Balgatri’ were killed in the attack when they were coming from a wedding in Panjgur on Monday evening,” Wahid told Arab News. He added that all seven people who were killed in the attack were aboard the vehicle and were headed to Balgatar.
A senior police official from district Kech told Arab News on condition of anonymity that unknown persons planted a remotely-controlled IED device along the road, which exploded as the vehicle passed through it.
Wahid said Levis personnel were headed to the area from the nearby Kech and Panjgur districts to investigate the blast.
Baloch was known for his pro-government activities. Separatist groups who have taken up arms against the government often target security forces and pro-government politicians in the province’s Makran division. However, no group claimed responsibility for the attack till the filing of this report.
The victims were identified as Ishaq Baloch, Ibrahim Baloch, Qasim Baloch, Saffar Khan, Sarfaraz Baloch, Fida Hussain and Nizam Baloch. Six of the victims hailed from district Panjgur while one was from Prom, a small village near the Pakistan-Iran border.
Bodies of the deceased were handed over to their relatives. “We didn’t receive any body in District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) Panjgur till late night because the bodies were shifted to Balgatar village for their last rituals,” Dr. Anwar Aziz, the hospital’s medical superintendent, told Arab News.
Balochistan’s Provincial Minister for Home and Tribal Affairs Meer Zia Ulla Langove condemned the attack, directing authorities to submit a report on it.
“People playing with innocent lives can’t be called human beings,” Langove said in a statement. “The entire nation is united and we will eliminate the menace of terrorism.”
