QUETTA: Armed militants killed four people including two police officials in Balochistan's volatile Kech and Sibi districts and torched two oil tankers carrying fuel for Nato forces in Khuzdar on Saturday, police said.
Muhammad Tariq, a levies official told Dawn.com that armed motorcyclists opened fire at a car in Tump tehsil of Kech district. He said two persons inside the car were dead on the spot. He said the miscreants kidnapped the third person along with them.
Tariq said the assailants drove off the scene after the attack. “The incident appears to be an act of targeted killing,” he said.
The levies force reached the spot as investigation into the incident went underway.
In another incident, armed militants opened fire at a police sub inspector in the outskirts of Turbat town, killing him on the spot.
Niamatullah, a police official told Dawn.com that armed militants killed sub inspector Jan Muhammad on the spot.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. However, another police official, who requested not to be named, said that Baloch insurgents could be behind the attack on police officer.
Another police official was killed when armed militants opened fire at him in Sibi bazar. Police said two gunmen, riding a motorcycle, opened fire on a police constable deployed at the bazaar, killing him on the spot.
The attackers fled away from the scene after the incident.
In Khuzdar, militants torched two oil tankers carrying fuel for US and Nato troops on Saturday night.
Mir Hassan, an official of levies control told Dawn.com that four gunmen on motorcycles opened an indiscriminate fire at tankers forcing them to stop in Pishak area of Khuzdar.
“The drivers fled away from the tankers as the firing started,” he said, adding the drivers narrowly survived the attack.
Hassan said the militants then reached the tankers and set them ablaze after throwing petrol on them. He said roaring flames of fire and thick smoke could be witnessed from far distances.
Fire brigade from nearby Khuzdar was called to put off the flames.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Balochistan Dr Abdul Malik Baloch, speaking to reporters in Karachi, termed the missing persons as an important issue in the volatile province. He said his government was in close contact with federal government to seek its help in amicable solution of issues relating to the province.
Dr Baloch said that Sindh government had no link with the recovery of missing people’s dead bodies in Karachi.
Plagued by sectarian violence and violent attacks by Baloch separatists, Balochistan – the largest province in terms of area in Pakistan – has remained under the grip of violence fore more than a decade now.