QUETTA: A senior police officer and his three police guards were martyred and the driver was injured in an armed attack in the Killi Deba area on Joint Road here on Thursday.

Four armed men riding two motorcycles ambushed the official vehicle of Superintendent of Police Mubarak Shah after he left his home in Killi Deba for his office in Quaidabad.

It was the second incident of attack on police in Balochistan in a week. On Monday, the district police officer of Qila Abdullah was martyred with his two security guards in a suicide attack in Chaman.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the banned Pakistan Tehreek-i-Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack on the SP’s vehicle. “We carried out the armed attack on police officials,” Asad Mansur, a spokesman for the militant outfit, said in a message posted on social media.

“The assailants, who were waiting for the SP’s vehicle in Killi Deba, opened fire on the vehicle from two sides,” a police official, Sultan, said. SP Shah died on the spot while his three guards succumbed to their wounds in Civil Hospital during treatment.

The condition of the injured driver was stated to be critical.

Mr Sultan, quoting post-mortem reports, said that heads and upper parts of bodies of the deceased had been targeted.

The deceased police guards were identified as Muhammad Imran, Muhammad Irfan and Muddassar Fazal-i-Rabi.

Their bodies were handed over to the police authorities after completing medico-legal formalities. Later, the bodies were brought to the Police Lines where funeral prayers were offered. Inspector General of Balochistan Ahsan Mehboob, IG of the Frontier Corps Maj Gen Nadeem Anjum, General Officer Comman­ding of 41 Division Maj Gen Abid Latif, GOC of 33 Division Maj Gen Nadeem Zaki, Additional IG Dr Mujeeb-ur-Rehman and Regional Police Officer of Quetta Abdul Razzaq Cheema were among those who attended the funeral prayers.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Balochistan Governor Muhammad Khan Achakzai, Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri and Home Minister Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti condemned the killing of the four police personnel and said that their sacrifices would not go in vain.

They said in their separate statements that the fight against terrorism would continue till the presence of last terrorist.

They paid tribute to the police officials and said that they had lost their lives in the line of duty.

The chief minister directed the authorities concerned to ensure the arrest of elements who were behind the terrorist attack.

The militant Islamic State (IS) group also claimed the attack on its Amaq news agency website, according to Reuters. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and the IS have in the past jointly claimed responsibility for attacks in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2017