QUETTA, June 24: Three policemen died when armed men on motorcycles sprayed them with bullets in Eastern Bypass area on Sunday, sources said.

Four policemen on two motorcycles were on routine patrol duty in the Eastern Bypass area when unidentified men attacked them, killing Abdullah, Shahjahan and Muhammad Abdullah on the spot.

Constable Mumtaz escaped unhurt, officials said.

“Armed men riding a motorcycle targeted our patrolling jawans,” a senior police officer said, adding that after firing the assailants fled.

Police took the bodies to hospital.

“The killed policemen received multiple bullet injuries,” hospital sources said.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack and police were conducting raids on suspected places for the culprits.

Event postponed

The Balochistan Olympic Association has announced the postponement of inter-provincial games which were to be held in July because players from other provinces have refused to come to Quetta owing to the poor law and order situation here.

Balochistan Olympic Association Secretary Afzal Awan said the games were scheduled to be held from July 14 to 16 in the provincial capital. “We have no other option but to postpone inter-provincial games because of prevailing bad law and order situation in the province,” he said.

Mr Awan said the Balochistan Olympic Association had invited athletes and players from Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan to participate in the games and they had accepted the invitation. However, the deteriorating law and order situation in the city forced the association to postpone the games.

“The new date for the games will be announced after improvement in the situation in the provincial capital,” he said.

Sources in the sports ministry, however, said the games could be held in September.

Mother, two children drown

A woman and her two children lost their lives in a tragic incident in Sariab road area on Sunday.

According to police, seven-year-old Abdul Rauf was playing in his house when he fell into a well in the courtyard. His mother Maryum jumped into the well to rescue him and his sister Zehra followed her mother.

All three drowned.

Other family members and neighbours tried their best to rescue them but they could only pull out their bodies.