GWADAR: Three soldiers were martyred and eight others, including an officer, received injuries in a terrorist attack on security forces in Panjgur district of Balochistan on Tuesday.

According to a statement of the Inter-Services Public Relations, terrorists opened fire on a patrolling party of security personnel near Gichak valley of Panjgur.

“Three soldiers embraced Shahadat while 8 soldiers received injuries, including an officer. Five of the injured are critical,” the ISPR statement said, adding the injured soldiers were taken to the Combined Military Hospital, Quetta.

Meanwhile, Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani strongly condemned the attack on security personnel in Panjgur.

In a statement issued here on Tuesday, he expressed sorrow over loss of lives in the attack.

He said that the three security personnel had sacrificed their lives in the line of duty to protect the motherland. He said the people of the country were proud of their sacrifices. He said that such attacks could not demoralise security forces of the country.

The chief minister expressed sympathy with the grieved families and said that enemies of the country and their agents had once again made a conspiracy to disturb peace in Balochistan. However, he said, all such conspiracies of anti-Pakistan and anti-Balochistan elements would be foiled.

The Tuesday attack on security forces came two days after the one in which four soldiers embraced martyrdom and three others suffered injuries during an intelligence-based operation in the Miramshah area of North Waziristan tribal district.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2020