QUETTA, June 26: Four rockets were fired at the house of Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Mohammad Yousuf in Kalat, some 140 km south-east of here, early on Sunday morning.
The wife and daughter of the chief minister who were asleep in the house at the time of the attack were unhurt. The house was badly damaged and a servant suffered minor injures. The chief minister who was in Quetta rushed to Kalat alongwith Deputy Speaker Aslam Bhootani
“Four rockets hit the chief minister’s bungalow, damaging its upper storey”, a senior police official said, adding that one rocket hit the wall of the bedroom where the wife and daughter of Jam Yousuf were sleeping.
According to sources, the attack was carried out by a group of armed men who appeared to have come in a pick up from the hilly area of Kalat. They fired a number rockets and two then, hit the upper floor of the house and one rocked damaged the wall of the bedroom, the fourth rocket exploded close to the boundary wall.
The sources said that after firing rockets the attackers fired on the house with automatic weapons and tried to enter the premises. Police and private guards deployed at the place took position and returned fire. The exchange of fire continued for around half an hour. Law-enforcing personnel and officers of the district administration rushed to the place but by that time the attackers had disappeared in the hilly area. No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack. It is learnt that heavy contingents of law-enforcement personnel have cordoned off the entire area and launched a search operation for the assailants.
“Law-enforcement agencies are chasing the culprits,” district Nazim Kalat Mir Niamatullah Zehri said, adding that the attackers would soon be traced.
The Balochistan assembly at its meeting on Sunday strongly condemned the attack and described it as a violation of the tradition of the province.
