QUETTA / GWADAR: In a spike in violence across Balochistan, 15 bullet-riddled bodies were found in the Buleda area of Kech district close to the Iranian border, while a senior police officer and three members of his family were gunned down in Quetta on Wednesday.

It was the second targeted attack on a senior police officer within a week.

On Thursday last, a suicide bomber killed a deputy inspector general of police and two other police personnel.

Acting SP Investigation Mohammad Ilyas was gunned down by motorcyclists in the Nawan Killi area when he was travelling in a car along with his family.

His wife, son and six-year-old grandson were also killed in the firing. However, his four-year-old granddaughter was injured in the attack and admitted to the civil hospital, Quetta.

15 bullet-riddled bodies found near Iranian border

Quetta DIG Abdul Razzak Cheema said SP Ilyas was targeted when he was coming to Quetta from the Nawan Killi area.

Earlier in the day, security forces found 15 bullet-riddled bodies of people hailing from Punjab who were allegedly en route to Iran through an infrequent route illegally.

Official sources said the bodies were found abandoned in the mountainous region of Grock, a small town of Buleda tehsil, close to the Iranian border.

Makran Commissioner Bashir Ahmed Bangulzai told Dawn that the victims belonged to different towns and cities of Punjab, “They had arrived in the area to cross into Iran illegally,” Mr Bangulzai said. Security forces took the bodies to the Turbat district hospital, he added.

Official sources said documents and other belongings found along with the bodies confirmed that the deceased were going to Iran illegally on their way to Europe.

A senior official said the tragic incident had taken place on Tuesday night.

A Levies official said the victims had arrived in the area through their agents for crossing into Iran illegally. They might have been kidnapped and the kidnapper had killed them, he said.

The people of the area had informed the local administration about the bodies. Levies force and personnel of other law enforcement agencies rushed to the site and took the bodies to hospital for autopsy.

Quoting hospital sources, Levies officials said all the victims were shot from a close range which caused their instant death. “Multiple bullet wounds were found on the head and upper parts of the victims,” they said.

Assistant Commissioner of Turbat Dr Jamil Ahmed Baloch said 12 of the victims were identified and their bodies were kept in the hospital’s mortuary.

The bodies would be sent to their native cities and towns on Thursday morning. Security forces have launched a massive search operation in the area to trace their killers.

Some of the victims were identified as Mohammad Hussain, Zulfiqar Ali, Khurram Shahzad, Azhar Waqis (Mandi Bahauddin), Ahsan Raza, Ghulam Rabbani (Gujranwala), Saifullah (Gujarat), Mohammad Ilyas (Daska) Tayyab Raza, Abdul Ghafoor and Zafiran Zahid (Sialkot).

Four bodies are yet to be identified.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2017