Rebels attack Balochistan Home Minister Mir Ziaullah
In two separate attacks, one in Balochistan and the other carried out in Bajaur area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, at least eight persons, including four Pakistani policemen, were injured. One of them died later and the condition of some injured policemen has been described as critical, with the officials expressing apprehensions that the toll may go up.
In an attack on the convoy of Balochistan Home Minister Mir Ziaullah Langove in Mastung on August 14, Friday, six people, including three police personnel, were injured, some of them seriously. A senior police official said that Langove was not injured in the attack, which occurred as his convoy reached the Khad Kocha area of Mastung, according to a Dawn report.
The official said that Langove was on his way to Quetta from Kalat. The official added that six people sustained bullet injuries in the attack, three of whom were police personnel. Nawab Raisani Memorial Hospital’s Dr Sana also confirmed that six injured had been brought to the hospital and two of them were in serious condition. She said two of the others were referred to Quetta for advanced treatment.
Security forces have cordoned off the area and launched a search operation. Langove, who is from the Balochistan Awami Party, was sworn in as provincial home minister in March this year. He had also served on this post earlier but his appointment was declared null and void after he was de-notified on August 21, 2024.
Meanwhile, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, one policeman was killed while another was wounded after armed men of Tehreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP) attacked a police post in Bajaur district’s Barang tehsil in the early hours of Friday.
Mansoor Khan, the district police spokesperson, said that a group of armed men targeted the police post in Kohi Sar area with rocket launchers and small weapons. He said that police personnel at the post immediately responded and retaliated. The official said two police personnel were wounded in the exchange of fire, which continued for several hours.
One of the wounded policemen, identified as Constable Zahir Shah, succumbed to his injuries while being transported to a local hospital for treatment, he said. The other injured policeman, Head Constable Amir Zada, was reported to be out of danger, he added.
“The police personnel at the post bravely retaliated and successfully foiled the attack”, the spokesperson added. The funeral prayers of the slain policeman were held at Police Lines in Khar, which was attended by Deputy Commissioner Adnan Farid, District Police Officer (DPO) Khan Zeb Momand and other officials.
Earlier this month, at least 14 people, including police officials, were killed and at least 18 others injured in a suicide attack on Swat’s Kabal police station. On July 30, an attack on a police check post in Hangu had led to the deaths of nine policemen. So far this year, TTP men have been focussed on attacking police posts and other security personnel in the KP province.
The heavily fortified police stations, Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and superior weaponry has failed to act as a deterrent for the TTP men. These men were at one time trained and armed by Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) for use in Afghanistan and against India. However, of late, TTP has turned on its masters once refusing to act as their terror proxies. Instead, they are relentless in their attacks on Pakistani assets.
Incidentally, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has seen an uptick in violence, with attacks being a normal everyday routine now. According to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies’s (PICSS) monthly security assessment, the povince, excluding the merged districts, recorded 154 violent deaths in July, compared with 75 in June, representing an increase of 105 per cent.
