Quetta: The death toll in the attack on FC post has risen to ten
Tuesday, June 1, 2021 22:06
Zainuddin Ahmed, Urdu News, Quetta
No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the latest attack. (File photo: AFP)
The death toll in Monday night's attack on the Frontier Corps on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, has risen to ten.
Balochistan Home Minister Ziaullah Langove while talking to Urdu News on telephone confirmed that the bodies of ten FC personnel were taken to the Combined Military Hospital in Quetta.
He said that seven FC personnel were also injured in the attack and were admitted to CMH. The condition of one of the injured is said to be critical.
The attack was carried out by unidentified terrorists on Monday evening at the Owais check post of the Frontier Corps Balochistan Gaza Band Scouts 129 Wing at Pir Ismail Ziarat near Marwar, about 70 km east of Quetta.
Extensive coal reserves are found in this mountainous region between Quetta and Bolan. The FC has set up check posts here to protect thousands of miners working in the coal mines.
A senior security official stationed in Quetta said on condition of anonymity that more than 20 assailants armed with sophisticated weapons surrounded the check post from different directions. They fired indiscriminately with Kalashnikovs, sniper rifles and other small arms.
Attacks on security forces in Balochistan have increased in recent days (File Photo: AFP)
According to the security officer, there were nearly 25 officers at the check post at that time who fought for several hours. Ten personnel, including Post Commander Naib Subedar Ijaz Ali, were martyred and seven others were injured in the firing, while six survived.
Provincial Home Minister Zia Langove said that the FC soldiers fought hard. Several terrorists were also killed in the retaliatory and subsequent operation.
On Monday night, the Pakistan Army's public relations department, ISPR, initially confirmed the deaths of four personnel, saying "four to five terrorists were killed and seven to eight were injured in the FC retaliation."
The ISPR had said that an FC vehicle was hit by an IED in Quetta as well as in Turbat, injuring two FC personnel.
The banned separatist organization Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the Turbat attack, but no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack on the FC checkpoint at Pir Ismail Ziarat near Quetta.
There have been similar attacks on FC Chowk posts in Pir Ismail Ziarat and adjoining Marwar, Margat, Shahrag and nearby areas before. On May 9, three FC personnel were killed in an attack on an FC outpost in Marwar, and on May 5, a militant attack on border guards in the Zhob district bordering Afghanistan killed seven FC personnel. ۔
It may be recalled that in recent days, there has been an increase in attacks on security forces in Balochistan. In the last one month alone, at least 25 personnel have lost their lives in more than half a dozen attacks on the FC in Balochistan.
بلوچستان کے دارالحکومت کوئٹہ کے نواح میں فرنٹیئر کور پر پیر کی شب ہونے والے حملے میں ہلاک اہلکاروں کی تعداد دس تک پہنچ گئی۔
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