QUETTA, Dec 1 Three FC personnel and five armed men were killed in a gunbattle in Turbat and in a bomb blast in Kalat on Wednesday.

Eight security personnel were injured.

“A heavy exchange of fire between security forces and the armed men continued for several hours on the outskirts of Turbat town,” a senior official of the local administration said.

A spokesman for the Frontier Corps said that a contingent of FC on routine patrol had been attacked in Turbat airport area in the morning. The FC personnel returned fire and chased the gunmen who took refuge in a house in the Overseas Colony.

More FC troops and policemen were called in. They cordoned off the area and asked the assailants to surrender. But the gunmen opened fire and hurled several hand grenades, killing two FC men and injuring another.

“At least over a dozen powerful explosions were heard in Turbat town,” the sources said.

They said that at least five attackers in the house were killed in the exchange of fire which continued for several hours.

The FC spokesman said that two AK47 rifles, three pistols, a 7-MM rifle, thousands of rounds, a huge quantity of explosive material and detonators were found in the house.

The sources said that one FC soldier was killed on the spot and another died in hospital.

The gunmen killed in the clash were identified as Murad Jan Gichki, Zubair Gichki, Majid Hasan, Hasil Khan and Hamal Khan. Their bodies were taken to Turbat district hospital.

In another incident, one FC personnel was killed and seven were injured in a bomb attack near Mughazai area of Kalat in the afternoon.

The sources said that an FC vehicle was passing through the area when the bomb was detonated by a remote control.

“The FC vehicle was hit by splinters of the bomb placed along the RCD highway,” official sources said.

A group of FC personnel rushed to the area, retrieved the body of FC man and took the injured to hospital. The condition of one of the injured was said to be serious.

BNP PROTEST Activists of Balochistan National Party (Mengal) held a demonstration to condemn what they called target killing of five people in Turbat by FC personnel and announced to observe a black day on Sunday.

The protesters assembled outside the press club and chanted slogans against the government and security forces and vowed to continue their struggle till the achievement of their rights.

Addressing a press conference, Agha Hasan Baloch, information secretary of BNP-M, said that two brothers, Murad Jan Gichki and Zubair Jan Gichki, who were cousins of party president Sardar Akhtar Mengal, were among the five men killed in Turbat.