QUETTA, July 25: A former Taliban commander and eight other people, including an engineer, a police constable and two Uzbek nationals, were shot dead in different parts of Balochistan on Wednesday, police said.

Mulla Naimatullah Nurzai was shot dead by some unidentified men in a village near the border town of Chaman on Wednesday.

Police sources told Dawn that Mulla Naimatullah was on his way to Chaman town from Boghara village when two unidentified armed men, riding a motorbike, opened fire with automatic weapons, killing him on the spot.

Mulla Naimatullah was special assistant to the Governor of Khost during the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and he also fought against Northern Alliance forces as a Taliban commander.

After the fall of the Taliban government in Afghanistan, he came back to Chaman and was living in Boghra village. His brother, Mullah Aminullah Nurzai, was still affiliated to the Taliban movement and was still fighting inside Afghanistan against Nato forces.

Three members of a team of a private company were shot dead by some unknown armed men hiding in mountains in Zehri area.

The members of the team were conducting a survey on the link road between Zehri and the main highway.

Three persons sitting in the vehicle of the company were killed on the spot while two others seriously injured, police said.

The dead have been identified as engineer Mohammad Nadeem, driver Mohammad Ali and worker Babu. The injured were taken to the Civil Hospital, Khuzdar. The attackers fled after the incident.

In another incident, unknown armed men shot dead two Uzbek nationals in the Zarahband area of Chaman tehsil. They have been identified as Jumma Khan and Ali Murad.

Two brothers were killed and another was injured when unidentified armed men attacked their house in the Surab area of the Kalat district. Police identified the deceased as Rehmatullah and Amanullah while their injured brother has been identified as Ataullah.

Police said the attackers had an old enmity with the deceased.

A police constable was killed and three others were injured after an exchange of fire between two rival groups in the Satellite town area. Constable Abdullah was passing through the area along with other policemen when caught up in the cross fire. Policemen Mumtaz, Farman and Rehmatullah were injured in the incident.