Two FC personnel killed, two injured in Quetta ambush

The Baloch Hal News

QUETTA: At least two personnel of the Frontier Corps (FC) were killed and two others were injured while their official vehicle was fully destroyed on Friday evening after unidentified persons hurled a hand grenade on a two-vehicle patrolling team of the security forces in a sensitive residential area of volatile Balochistan provincial capital.

An underground Baloch nationalist organization, Lashkar-e-Balochistan, claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to the official sources in Quetta, a team of the Frontier Corps was ambushed with a hand grenade on Mubarak Chowk of Spiny Road, a residential area notorious for frequent cases of target killing and repeated attacks on the police and security personnel in the past. The assault was carried out on the second vehicle after the first one managed to escape the target of the attackers. The exact number of the attackers could not be ascertained. “The FC team was routinely patrolling the area as this is one of the most sensitive parts of Quetta city,” said one FC official who requested anonymity, “the team was visiting the area as a part of daily exercise to ensure smooth state of law and order when the attack occurred.”

The attack was very powerful, said another official, and the vehicle hit a neighboring wall after coming under attack. Consequently, two personnel of the federal paramilitary force died. They were identified as Mohammad Asif and Zia-ur-Rehman. In addition, the blast injured two more members of the FC team. They were identified as Mumtaz and Ikramullah.

“The injured personnel have been shifted to the Civil Hospital in Quetta for immediate medical treatment where their condition is stated to be out of danger,” said the official.

The attack on FC team in Spiny Road took place on a location that lays close to the office of the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Operations, who had previously survived an attack on his life on the same road. A militant Sunni group, the Laskar-e-Jhangvi, had accepted responsibility for the attack on the DIG in the past. However, there is no precedence of militant Sunni groups attacking the Frontier Corps (FC), which has been a regular target of Baloch nationalist groups.

Spiny Road, where the FC team was targeted, has been recognized as an infamous location for frequent cases of target killing of policemen and government officials by the members of different banned organizations. In the wake of the recent attacks, the government of Balochistan had put extraordinary security measures in the area to counter violent attacks.

The dead bodies of both the FC officials were handed over by the hospital authorities after the completion of medical and legal formalities to the responsible officers of the Frontier Corps. The FC is hugely dominated by personnel hailing from the North West Frontier Corps (FC) whom the local Baloch majority population often ends up attacking as a part of the ongoing nationalist insurgency.

Teams from the Frontier Corps and Quetta Police reached the spot soon after the attack on the patrolling team. They fully cordoned off the area and began the initial investigations. Soon after perpetrating the ambush on FC team, the attackers managed to flee from the scene. The government officials said they were still unable to confirm how the attackers escaped. Residents of Spiny Road informed that the windowpanes of a number of local shops had also been shattered due to the powerful hand grenade attack on the FC team. All shops were instantly shut due to fear by the residents of the area of more similar attacks. The town presented a completely deserted look after all civilians locked themselves up inside their homes and the police and security forces dramatically increased their search for the masterminds.