QUETTA: A policeman was martyred and three others were injured in a clash with suspected militants in Loralai on Monday, while police killed one suspect and another blew himself up.
Official sources said that the militants had planned to target an important place in Loralai, but the Eagle Squad engaged them on the Quetta-Loralai Highway.
It is learnt that a convoy of the Zhob commissioner passed through the area a few minutes before the clash occured.
According to police officials, the personnel of Eagle Squad were patrolling the Quetta-Loralai Highway when they signalled two men on a motorcycle to stop, but they tried to escape. Police chased after them, with the suspected militants opening fire near the Commissioner’s Office. A heavy exchange of fire continued for some time, resulting in the death of a militant, while another blew himself up.
Four personnel of the Eagle Squad also suffered injuries.
A contingent of police and Eagle Squad rushed to the site and cordoned off the entire area.
Rescue workers took the injured policeman to Loralai district hospital where he died.
“We received four injured police personnel and one of them succumbed to his wounds,” said Dr Wahid Baloch, adding that the other three injured policemen had been shifted to the Combined Military Hospital in Loralai.
The deceased policeman was identified as Ghulam Mohammad from Barkhan district. His funeral payers will be held at Police Lines in Loralai and his body will be sent to his native town.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
Police officer Abdul Rehman Luni said the Counter-Terrorism Department had registered an FIR against unidentified people and started investigation.
The Commissioner Office, Police Lines, Office of the Deputy Inspector General of Police and some other offices are located in the area where the clash took place.
“The office complex of the DIG Loralai and Police Lines were twice targeted by militants, claiming lives of over a dozen people, including police personnel,” local journalist Mohammad Usman told Dawn, adding that the security of all important places and Loralai city had been beefed up after the incident.
It was the third terrorist attack in Balochistan within a week.
Last Saturday, Deputy Secretary General of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl Maulana Mohammad Hanif, along with two other people, was killed in the border town of Chaman.
Four policemen were injured when terrorists hit a police vehicle on the outskirts of Quetta last week.
Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2019
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