Gunmen kill eight soldiers in Gwadar

Description

* Three others injured in attack on Pakistan Coast Guards camp in Pisukan coastal settlement

* Baloch Liberation Front claims responsibility for attack

QUETTA: At least eight security personnel were killed and three others were injured on Saturday in an attack on the Pakistan Coast Guards camp in Pishukan coastal settlement, some 40 kilometres from the port city of Gwadar.

Talking to Daily Times, Gwadar Assistant Commissioner Rehmat Dashti said, “Unidentified armed men in three pick-up trucks fired at officials when the officials signalled them to stop for routine search at Pishukan checkpost.” He also said as many as eight security officials were killed and a passerby sustained injuries.

The port town of Gwadar has seen a construction boom over the past decade as part of Pakistan’s plans to develop it, with Chinese help, into a trading hub.

According to sources, one of the three trucks was stopped at the checkpost. “The men on the other two trucks opened fire on the checkpost,” they added. The assailants fled from the scene.

Sources said two havaldars and a wireless operator were also among those killed. The deceased were identified as Ghani Asif, Sher Ali, Riaz Ahmed, Akmal, Adnan, Shahbaz and Abdul Sattar. The bodies and the injured were taken to the Liaquat Battalion Headquarters in Gwadar. Later, the injured were moved to Karachi.

Strong contingents of law enforcers rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area. However, no arrests were made.

The Baloch Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the attack.

“Armed men surrounded Pashookan post of Pakistan coast guards near the town of Gwadar and gunned down seven soldiers,” local administration chief Sohailur Rehman said, adding that three other soldiers were wounded.

The assailants, believed to be about a dozen, fled on motorbikes after the shooting, another official Rehmat Dashti told AFP.

Balochistan suffers from militancy, sectarian violence and a separatist insurgency which also targets government officials and security agencies.

Last week, the chief justice of Pakistan accused paramilitary forces of involvement in a third of all disappearances in the province.

According to the public relations officer of the coast guards, the impersonators, who were more than eight in number, fired rockets and resorted to firing at the checkpost in the Pishukan area. All the eight personnel of Coast Guards present inside the

checkpost, sustained bullet injuries and died on the spot. The assailants managed to escape the scene.

“The armed men, who came in many vehicles, were wearing the FC uniform - a bid to defame the Frontier Corps,” the official added.

Pishukan is a sub-tehsil of Tehsil Jiwani and some 40 kilometres from Gwadar, the winter capital of Balochistan. Pishukan is 70 kilometres from Pak-Iran boarder. Around 95 percent residents of Pishukan are fishermen. staff report/agencies
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7 Coast Guards killed in Gwadar
By: Bari Baloch | July 22, 2012 | 2


QUETTA – Gunmen Saturday stormed a Coast Guard camp and killed seven soldiers in Gwadar district, the winter capital of Balochistan.
Though some parts of the province are facing active insurgency but this costal district has been relatively calm. A spokesman of the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF), an anti-state group, calling from unspecified location claimed the responsibility of the attack.
Gwadar Deputy Commissioner Sohailur Rehman told TheNation that unidentified armed men riding motorbikes and vehicles encircled the camp in Peshokan area, some 30KM west of Gwadar town, and opened indiscriminate fire on the security personnel with sophisticated weapons, killing seven of them and wounding another.
However, some other sources said that eight coast guards were killed and three wounded in the attack that came on the afternoon by eight armed men, who came on motorbikes and swiftly fled the scene after the attack.
The deceased and injured security men were moved to the Gwadar Hospital. The seven killed were identified as Ghani Asif, Sher Ali, Riaz Ahmed, Akmal, Adnan, Shahbaz and Abdul Sattar. Hospital sources said that a seriously injured soldier was moved to Karachi after providing him first aid.
Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani condemned the incident and directed the authorities to apprehend the attackers. A heavy contingent of law enforcement agencies reached the site and launched a major manhunt after cordoning off the area.
Gwadar is a port town that has seen a construction boom over the past decade as part of country’s plans to develop it, with Chinese help, into a trading hub. Balochistan suffers from sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias and a separatist insurgency which also targets government officials and security agencies.
Shot dead
A man was shot dead in Jaffarabad while a boy sustained injuries in a blast in Dukki, on Saturday.
According to police, armed assailants opened indiscriminate fire on a man at Ali Abad Road in Usta Muhammad area of Jaffarabad district. As a result of that, man received critical wounds and succumbed to his injuries on the way to hospital. The deceased was identified as Zaman Khokhar, however, motive behind the incident is yet to be ascertained.
Police handed over the body to heirs after completing legal formalities and registered a case against unidentified accused.
In another incident, a 12-year-old boy, Muhammad Hussain, was injured in a blast in Nasirabad area of Dukki.
Police said Muhammad Hussain found a toy-like thing and started playing with it which exploded and wounded him. He was moved to nearby hospital where his condition was stated to be out of danger.
Meanwhile, police found a dead body lying near Sakaran Hotel in Hub, the industrial town of Balochistan, and moved to hospital for autopsy.
However, the identity of body could not be ascertained immediately.
This news was published in print paper. Access complete paper of this day.