DERA GHAZI KHAN: Residents of Tuman Leghari tribal area on Tuesday blocked the Dera-Quetta road for several hours in protest against the killing of a tribesman a couple of days ago allegedly by Baloch insurgents in the adjacent Loralai district of Balochistan.

Scores of members of Leghari tribe blocked the inter-provincial highway at Khar against the killing of Afzal Aliani Leghari in an attack on a coal-laden truck allegedly by Baloch fraree group near Nishtar, Loralai district.

The protesters placed obstacles on the road to block it for inter-provincial traffic, demanding the killers should be apprehended immediately. The blockade continued for more than five hours. They dispersed peacefully after the administration gave them an assurance that the matter would be taken up with the authorities concerned.

Punjab Goods Transport Association official Abdul Salam Nasir told Dawn that on Monday Baloch insurgents killed another driver, Gul on Duki-Chamalong road in Loralai. He claimed that 18 drivers, along with their helpers, had been killed in the last three years on Duki-Chamalong road in Loralai, Balochistan.

He said that earlier, under an agreement with Balochistan government, Frontier Constabulary was bound to establish pickets and checkposts on Duki-Chamalong road to make it safe for the truck drivers and other commuters, but the practice had been stopped.

According to sources, the attacks on coal-laden trucks are a result of a dispute between two groups of Muri Baloch tribe over coal mines in Chamalong. — Tariq Saeed Birmani