Friday, February 22, 2008

Insurgency in Baluchistan Continues

BLA guns down three traffic police officers
Staff Report, Daily Times, February 22, 2008

QUETTA: Unidentified assailants gunned down three traffic policemen in Quetta early on Thursday morning and fled the scene, triggering a strike by traffic police here. A spokesman of the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack, warning that more such attacks would follow.

Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Mohammad Akbar said the officers were performing routine traffic duty in Killi Ismail when assailants rode up to them on a motorcycle and opened fire. Sub-inspector Mohammad Latif died instantly, while Mohammad Ayub and Bashir Ahmed were rushed to Quetta’s civil hospital but perished there.

Traffic police in Quetta refused to perform their duty after the incident in protest, and city traffic remained unattended and chaotic throughout the day.

Balochistan Inspector General Saud Ghor convened a meeting of senior officials to discuss the incident. Meeting participants condemned the killings and vowed to bring the killers to book. BLA spokesman Bibarg Baloch claimed responsibility for the attack. He told Daily Times by phone that the BLA had killed six police and army personnel. When asked why, he replied: “What do you mean why? … They were working for the interests of Pakistan. Many more such attacks will be carried out in the future.”

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

No surrender to the BLA! Death to nationalism! Long live Islam! Long live Pakistan! The BLA, as with all ethnic nationalists, serve the interests of those people who hate Pakistan, who hate Islam and who hate Desis. The BLA is made up of violent, greedy, oppressive tribal sardars. To preserve their wealth and power, the sardars of the BLA will oppress and kill both Balochi and non- Balochi people, just like Bugti did.