QUETTA: An officer of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) was killed and a passerby injured in a bomb attack in the southwestern Pakistani district of Khuzdar, officials said on Sunday.
Police said unidentified suspects had planted a magnetic explosive device inside a private vehicle owned by CTD officer Murad Jamot.
“The device exploded when Jamot was traveling on the Sultan Ibrahim Road of Khuzdar, killing him on the spot and injuring one civilian who was passing by the area,” Abdullah Pandarani, in-charge of the Khuzdar Khuzdar police station, told Arab News over the phone.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack in Balochistan, where Baloch separatist groups have been fighting the Pakistani state for the last two decades, accusing the government of exploiting the province’s mineral resources. The Pakistani state denies it.
Balochistan Chief Minister Ali Mardan Domki condemned the attack and directed authorities to arrest the suspects.
“Attacking the forces which are fully engaged to protect the property and lives of the masses is condemnable,” he said in a statement.
Dr. Ahmed Ali, medical superintendent of Khuzdar Teaching Hospital, said they had received body of the deceased and given initial medical aid to the injured civilian.
“We have received body of a CTD officer and one injured civilian, who was later shifted for better medical care to Karachi,” Dr. Ali told Arab News.
The attack on the CTD officer comes amid criticism of the Balochistan Counter-Terrorism Department for an alleged extrajudicial killing of a Baloch youth, Balach Baloch, in the Turbat district late last month. The CTD claimed at the time that the Baloch had confessed to his involvement in attacks on security forces.
The killing has triggered widespread protest in Turbat, where a local court ordered registration of a case against the CTD officials involved in the killing of Baloch. The deceased youth’s family has been marching toward the provincial capital of Quetta to protest the killing and for an immediate registration of case against the Turbat CTD team.
In a separate statement, Pakistan’s Federal Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti vowed to eliminate militancy from the country.
“Terrorists want to sabotage peace in Balochistan by targeting security forces,” Bugti said. “Cowardly acts of terrorists cannot demoralize our youth. We will end terrorism from all over the country, including Balochistan.”
