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Published 29 Mar, 2014 08:43pm

Militant attack at Pasni radar-post kills one in Balochistan

QUETTA: An armed militant attack at Pasni Radar-Post in Balochistan's volatile Mekran belt near Pakistan's port city of Gwadar left one personnel dead, a senior official said on Saturday.

The militants fled away the site but only after destroying some technical equipment and planting a bomb at the air traffic control post.

The official in the province’s home and tribal affairs department, who requested anonymity owing to sensitivity of the matter, told Dawn.com that eight armed militants stormed inside the Pasni Radar-Post and killed a personnel deployed there.

“The militants made eight personnel hostage after the attack,” he said, adding that one of them was killed after resistance.

The Pasni Radar-post, located 131 kilometer east from Pakistan's port city of Gwadar, controls air traffic from Western and Gulf countries towards South Asia and Central Asian States.

“The assailants planted a bomb after the attack,” the official said and informed that the bomb disposal squad was called in to defuse the bomb.

He said the militants damaged some technical equipments installed at the Radar-Post after the attack.

“Militants sped away in their vehicles after the attack,” he said.

Pasni is considered to be one of the sensitive areas of Balochistan. Militants in the area have been targeting security forces, vital national installations and pro-government personalities for last more than seven years.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack. However, the official suspected that the Baloch rebels operating in the area were behind the attack.

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