Journalists taking pictures, on Friday, of the bullets recovered from the five alleged Chechen nationals who were killed in an alleged police encounter at Kharotabad. One woman among the five alleged Chechen militants was pregnant, as she took part in the alleged exchange of bullets and hand grenades. – Online Photo

QUETTA: More embarrassment lay in store for Quetta police in the Chechen killing case as the surgeon who headed the autopsy team said on Friday that apparently the two men and the three women had died from “multiple bullet wounds”.

“Twenty-four bullets were extracted from their bodies during post-mortem. They died of multiple bullet wounds,” Dr Baqir Shah told reporters, adding that traces of splinters had also been seen on four of the five bodies.

The statement clashed with the claim made by CCPO Daud Junejo the previous day that the Chechens had died because of a bomb explosion, and not in shooting by law enforcement agencies. The incident occurred in Killi Khezi area of Khrotabad on Tuesday.

Dr Baqir Shah, who headed the team which carried out the autopsy at the Bolan Medical College here, spelt more trouble for police when he said one of the women was seven months pregnant.

The woman received 10 bullet wounds on different parts of her body. “A 32-week baby girl was also found dead,” Dr. Shah said.

No splinter mark was found on the body of the pregnant woman, the doctor added. The woman’s age ranged between 25 and 28 years.

Five bullets were extracted from the body of another Chechen woman along with traces of splinters, Dr Shah said. And eight bullet wounds were seen on the body of the third woman.

The police surgeon said one bullet was extracted from the body of one of the two Chechen men who lost their lives in the shooting. Burn injuries were also seen on his body. The other man got two bullet wounds.

The post-mortem report will be submitted to the Balochistan government in five to six days, Dr Shah said.

The doctors completed the post-mortem in about 11 hours _ from 9am to 8pm.

Police officers and other security personnel were present in the hospital during the autopsy.

One member of the team told reporters that “some senior officials tried to exert pressure on us”.

JUDICIAL INQUIRY: In a related development, Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani on Friday ordered the setting up of a judicial tribunal to probe the Chechens’ killing.

The provincial government has requested the Chief Justice of the Balochistan High Court to appoint a sitting judge for conducting a judicial inquiry.