Latest news with #DeraBugti
Arab News
02-08-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Two killed, one injured while defusing IED in Pakistan's volatile southwest
QUETTA: At least two people were killed and one other was injured while trying to defuse an improvised explosive device (IED) in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, a paramilitary official said on Saturday. The blast occurred in the Ali Chakarani area of Balochistan's Dera Bugti district, when local tribesmen attempted to defuse the IED planted by unknown militants, according to Nadir Ali, in-charge of the paramilitary Levies station in the area. The deceased were identified as Washu Khan and Muhammad Zahid, while the injured person was being treated at a hospital. 'A local shepherd informed the tribesmen on Saturday morning that a suspicious device had been planted in the area,' Ali told Arab News. 'The slain tribesmen were attempting to defuse the device without informing the local Levies force and other law enforcement agencies.' No group has claimed responsibility for planting the IED. Balochistan, Pakistan's largest but most impoverished province, has been the site of a long-running insurgency that has intensified in recent months, with separatist militants attacking security forces, government officials and installations and people from other provinces who they see as 'outsiders.' The Pakistani government says it has launched several development schemes relating to infrastructure, health and education for some 15 million people of Balochistan, which is also home to deep seaport being built by China, gold, copper and coal mines, and has a long coast on the Arabian Sea. Last month, an army officer was killed and three civilians, including a child, were injured in an IED blast in the restive region, police officials said. The explosion targeted a private vehicle in the western bypass area of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province. The provincial government has banned weapons display, pillion riding and an assembly of more than five people for 15 days, amid threats of militant attacks in the volatile region during Pakistan's 78th Independence Day celebrations.
Arab News
15-06-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Two police officers killed, two wounded in ambush in Pakistan's Balochistan province
QUETTA: Two police officers were killed and two others injured when gunmen ambushed a police patrol in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, officials said on Sunday. The attack took place late on Saturday in Sui, a mountainous town about 50km from Dera Bugti city where police had rushed to respond to reports of a grenade explosion. Jalab Khan, station house officer at Sui Police, said officers were traveling in two vehicles when they were ambushed. 'Nearly a dozen armed men were hiding behind a large rock and attacked our vehicles with heavy gunfire, hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenades,' Khan told Arab News. 'Two policemen were killed on the spot and two sustained bullet wounds,' he said, adding that the attackers fled under the cover of darkness. The Baloch Republican Army (BRA), an ethnic Baloch separatist group, claimed responsibility for the attack. The BRA has been involved in multiple attacks on security forces and gas infrastructure in Dera Bugti, one of Pakistan's key natural gas-producing districts. The group emerged after the killing of veteran Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti during a military operation in 2006. Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, is a mineral-rich region that is home to Beijing's investment in the Gwadar deep water port and other projects. It is Pakistan's largest province by size but smallest by population and the most impoverished. It has long been the site of a separatist insurgency by groups like the BRA, who are fighting for independence. Pakistan accuses neighboring India and Afghanistan of supporting Baloch separatist militants, a claim they deny. Islamabad also says neighboring Iran does not do enough against militants operating on their shared border. 'The slain policemen were local residents of Dera Bugti and their bodies have been handed over to families for burial,' said Atta Tareen, the district police officer for Dera Bugti. A first information police report hasd been registered and Balochistan's Counter Terrorism Department was leading the investigation, Tareen added.
