Pakistan: Five security personnel killed, 15 injured in multiple blasts in Balochistan
Dec 25, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], December 25 : Five soldiers, including a captain, were killed while 15 others were injured in five blasts in Balochistan on Sunday, The News International reported.
Two of the four blasts took place in Quetta, one ripped through the Kohlu district's Kahan area while the fourth one took place in Turbat. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded near a 'leading party' in Kohlu district's Kahan area during an intelligence-based clearance operation which is underway since December 24, according to The News International report.
Five soldiers, including Captain Fahad, Lance Naik Imtiaz, Sepoy Asghar, Sepoy Mehran and Sepoy Shamoon, were killed. Calling the incident an "externally perpetrated threat of terrorism", the ISPR said that "such cowardly acts by inimical elements" cannot sabotage the "peace and prosperity in Balochistan", according to the news report.
The ISPR said the security forces remain determined to challenge and defeat their nefarious designs. After the incident, a sanitisation operation was started in the area to arrest perpetrators, according to ISPR, as per The News International report.
Meanwhile, an unidentified man threw a grenade at a police checkpost in the Satellite Town of Quetta, injuring three on-duty men, The News International report cited police.
Prior to this incident, a grenade blast took place across the Shaheed Ameer Dasti police station at Sabzal Road in Quetta. According to police, four people, including a woman and a little girl, were injured in the attack. The bomb disposal squad reached the site of the attack after reports of another grenade at the site.
According to Quetta police, two hand grenades were thrown on the road of which one exploded while the other one was defused. The injured people were moved to the Bolan Medical Complex Hospital for treatment.
In another incident that happened in the evening, a blast went off near Turbat's Taleemi Chowk area, according to the police. No one was injured in the attack. The security forces cordoned off the areas and an investigation is underway, according to The News International.
Another grenade blast took place in the premises of Hub's Sadar Police Station. Three people were injured in the blast and they were taken to the city's civil hospital people, The News International reported citing rescue sources.
Meanwhile, one soldier was killed while two others injured in Balochistan's Zhob. An operation was launched in Zhob, which aims "to deny the terrorists use of a few suspected routes to move across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to sneak into the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa", as per the news report.
Earlier on Saturday, five security personnel were killed and another injured in separate attacks in Chaman and Turbat regions, Dawn reported citing police and official sources.
According to official sources, militants attacked a vehicle of Frontier Corps Balochistan (South) in the Dannuk region of Turbat in the Kech district, as per a report in the Dawn newspaper.
The Frontier Corps (FC) personnel and attackers indulged in an exchange of fire. Four security personnel, including a subedar were killed.
The victims were shifted to the Turbat district hospital. The slain soldiers were identified as Subedar Azhar Hussian, Sepoy Zulfiqar Ali, Naik Muhammad Ibrahim and Naik Sajidullah. Naik Suleman was injured during the gun battle, according to Dawn. An operation has been initiated to arrest the attackers.
In a separate attack, a Levies soldier was killed after armed motorcyclists opened fire in Chaman, according to the police. The soldier was identified as Bashir Ahmed and he was on duty at College Road at the time of the attack. The soldier succumbed on the spot after he received multiple bullets, according to police. The banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack.
