DERA MURAD JAMALI: Three employees of an oil and gas company were killed and five others injured in a landmine blast in the Toba Nokhani area of Dera Bugti district on Tuesday.

The victims were doing a survey to explore oil and gas reservoirs in the Dera Bugti area when their vehicle ran over the landmine, said Levies officials.

“Three members of the survey team were killed on the spot while five others were injured in the landmine blast,” said Home Minister Agha Omer Bangulzai.

Also read: Landmine deaths soar with record number of child victims, say monitors

Soon after the explosion, the Levies and Frontier Corps personnel rushed to the site and cordoned off the area. The critically injured were flown to a military hospital in Dera Bugti by helicopter.

The deceased were identified as Abid Hussain, Akhtar Jan and Zakria Khan. After their funeral at PPL office, the bodies were sent to their native towns in Sindh and Punjab provinces.

The injured namely Ali Abbas, Mohammad Waqas, Akmal Khan, Hafeez-ur- Rehman and Sanaullah were being treated at Dera Bugti CMH where their condition was said to be stable.

No group immediately claimed the responsibility for the attack though small nationalist separatist groups have claimed some previous attacks in Balochistan.

The latest violence came a day after assailants ambushed a convoy of paramilitary troops, killing six of them in Awaran district. No group had claimed responsibility for that attack either.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2018