GWADAR / QUETTA: Four labourers and a policeman lost their lives in an armed attack at a police station near Turbat in Kech district on Tuesday, according to officials.
Makran Division Commissioner Saeed Ahmed Umrani told Dawn that around 17 labourers were staying in the police station due to security reasons when the attack took place, early in the morning.
It was the second attack targeting labourers in Turbat in just over two weeks. On October 14, six workers — all of them from Punjab who were constructing a house — were killed in the Satellite Town area.
Commissioner Umrani added the attackers barged into the police station in Nasirabad area, some 50 miles away from Turbat, at 4am and started indiscriminate firing using automatic weapons.
The cops deployed at the gate offered resistance and returned fire, but one was gunned down. The other police officers were overpowered, and their official weapons were snatched.
The attackers killed four labourers and injured one, all hailing from Punjab. They escaped on motorcycles after the attack.
A heavy contingent of police and Frontier Corps arrived at the site following the attack and cordoned off the area.
The deceased and injured were moved to the district hospital, Turbat.
“All four labourers received multiple bullets, which caused their instant death,” hospital officials said, adding the injured was undergoing treatment.
The deceased were identified as Muhammad Azeem, Shahbaz Khan, Baqir Ali and Shahzed Ahmed, while Mudassar was injured, according to the police. They hailed from Muzaffargarh area of south Punjab.
The victims were working at the construction site of a government building and were being housed at the police station as a security measure, Kech SSP Muhammad Baloch said.
SSP Baloch was later removed from his post by caretaker Chief Minister Mir Ali Mardan Domki after the attack.
Balochistan Governor Malik Abdul Wali Khan Kakar, CM Domki, caretaker Home Minister retired Capt Zubair Ahmed Jamali, and caretaker Information Minister Jan Achakzai have strongly condemned the attack.
The CM vowed to apprehend the attackers, saying they would be brought to justice.
He added that Balochistan’s tradition revolved around hospitality and “not taking the life of a guest”.
Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2023
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