QUETTA, June 9: Noted Baloch leader of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) Mir Aslam Gichki was assassinated along with one of his friends in Mashkey, some 480km south of here, late Sunday evening.

Six others, including guards, sustained serious injuries in the attack.

Aslam Gichki had gone to a village Shahragi in Mashkey area of district Awaran to offer Fateha for the death of the father of a local government official.

On his way back home, unknown armed men ambushed his vehicle, killing him and his friend Naseer, son of Hammal, instantaneously, said an official in Khuzdar.

No one claimed responsibility for the killing of Aslam, known as ‘Prince’ during his student days. He was elected as a member of the Balochistan Assembly in 1997 elections.

The assailants fired on the two-vehicle convoy of Mir Aslam Gichki from two sides. They took position on the hilltop and opened indiscriminate fire, killing him and his friend on the spot.

Sources claimed that the attackers, besides using automatic weapons, also fired a rocket.

The officials of the Mashkey administration rushed to the site and removed the injured and bodies to the hospital.

The bodies of Mir Gichki and his friend were brought to their native village Parwan in the Awaran district late Sunday night for burial.

The assailants, after killing the BNP leader and his friend, disappeared from the scene. Levies and other law enforcement agencies cordoned off the whole area and a search of the killers has been launched.

No arrest was reported till our going to the press.

BRIEFING: Meanwhile, senior BNP leaders in Quetta held a news briefing on the assassination of Mir Aslam Gichki and blamed the provincial government for the attack. They claimed that hired assassins were used in the murder of Aslam Gichki.

They said the provincial government knew the dangerous situation in Mashkey and the administration took no precautionary measures to prevent such a dastardly incident.

They thought that it was a plot to instigate tribal and blood feud in order to push political elements and parties into a particular direction desired by the government.

Sardar Akhtar Mengal, who is son-in-law of the late leader, rushed to Jhalawan from Karachi. He had returned to Karachi after meeting his father Sardar Ataullah Mengal in Dubai.

Mir Aslam Gichki was also the uncle of Jam Mohammad Yousaf, provincial president of the Pakistan Muslim League (QA), Balochistan.

There was tension in the area and the local administration had taken precautionary measures to keep the situation under control.