Balochistan health minister survives rocket attack in Panjgur

Published July 6, 2017
QUETTA: Balochistan Health Minister Rehmat Saleh Baloch addresses a press conference.—APP/File
QUETTA: Balochistan Health Minister Rehmat Saleh Baloch addresses a press conference.—APP/File

Unidentified assailants attacked the convoy of Balochistan Health Minister Rehmat Saleh Baloch in Panjgur town on Thursday, officials said, with the minister and his aides remaining unharmed in the incident.

The minister's convoy was targeted while he was travelling to Prom area from Panjgur, Assistant Commissioner Panjgur Abdul Jabbar said.

Levies sources said the militants used various weapons including rockets in the attack. However, the assailants escaped the scene when Levies personnel opened retaliatory fire.

Upon receiving reports of the incident, Levies and Frontier Corps (FC) officials sealed the area and started a search operation.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack as yet.

Rehmat Saleh Baloch, who belongs to National Party, was elected a member of Balochistan Assembly in the general elections of 2013.

Balochistan has been experiencing incidents of violence and targeted killings for over a decade.

The largest province of the country by area, it is home to a low-level insurgency by ethnic Baloch separatists. Al Qaeda-linked and sectarian militants also operate in the region. The province shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran.

Earlier in May, 28 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted the convoy of Senate Deputy Chairman Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri in Balochistan's Mastung area.

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