QUETTA, March 19: Two officials of the Balochistan government were killed and another was seriously injured in an attack in the Pir Ghaib area of Bolan district, some 80km from here, on Sunday evening. The armed assailants overpowered two levies personnel posted in the area and took them hostage at gunpoint, Raziq Bugti, spokesman for the chief minister said while confirming the incident.

He said: “Eleven employees of the Balochistan Development Authority had gone to Pir Ghaib for a picnic. When they were packing up to return to Quetta, they were overpowered by 16 armed men who suddenly arrived there from the nearby mountains.

They separated three employees and opened fire on them, killing two of them on the spot and seriously injuring another. Before leaving, the armed men took two levies men as hostages.”

The two who were killed have been identified as Wajid Hussain and Mohammad Irshad and the injured as Kashif Ahmed.

Hearing about the incident, officials and security forces rushed to the place. The bodies and the injured man were sent to the Civil Hospital in Mach. The injured man was later taken to the Civil Hospital in Quetta.

Security forces cordoned off the entire area.

CHECKPOSTS ATTACKED: Sources said tribesmen fired 22 rockets and 25 mortar shells on the fort of the Frontier Corps in Karmo-Wadh, near Kahan, on Sunday, which was not hit.

The FC personnel deployed in the area retaliated by firing rockets towards the positions of the assailants.

ROCKETS FIRED: At least four rockets were fired at a checkpost of the Frontier Corps in Kahan and two in Dera Bugti on Sunday. However, no damage or casualty was reported.