QUETTA, June 14: Police have arrested seven suspects of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) for their alleged involvement in blowing up railway lines, bomb explosions and grenade attacks at houses in Mach town.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, IGP Chaudhry Mohammad Yaqub said: “They have confessed before a judicial magistrate their involvement in 14 subversive incidents in Mach,” he said, adding that they targeted the houses of the non-locals under a plan, who were living in Mach for centuries.

He said that police arrested Shaukat Ali, Akbar and Mohammad Bakhsh from Mach area last week. They identified their other accomplices and police arrest four of them from the nearby mountains.

Mr Yaqub said that a coal contractor, Habib Khan Marri, and one of his relative were the financiers of the defunct BLA.

He said that two minor girls had been killed and five other people, including two women, suffered injuries in a hand-grenade attack at the house of one Haji Abdul Jabbar. They also targeted many others houses, railway lines, police stations and schools.

“Other members of the BLA operating in Mach area will soon be arrested,” the IGP said, adding that all the seven arrested suspects were handed over to the CID for further interrogation.

He said after the merger of levies with the police in Mach, police patrolling have increased at Quetta-Sibi highway to ensure safety of the people.