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| India-Pakistan | |
| Tribesmen Say Over 50 Killed In Baluchistan Army Offensive | |
| 2005-12-20 | |
| Quetta, 20 Dec. (AKI/DAWN) - The Marri tribesmen in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province and the four-party Baluch Alliance both claim that more than 50 people have been killed and around 100 injured in helicopter attacks and air strikes carried out as part of the military operation in the province over the past two days. Paramilitary forces in Pakistan continued their operation in different areas of the Kohlu district of Baluchistan on Monday, destroying more "hideouts and camps of outlaws", while the Frontier Corps camp in the Kohlu township also came under rocket attack. According to reports, helicopter gunships attacked targets throughout Monday. The Marri tribesmen and the four-party Baluch Alliance claim that over 50 people were killed in the military operation which began late on Sunday night while another group known as the Anjuman Ittehad Marri claimed that 70 people, including women and children, had been killed and 150 injured in bombings by aircraft and helicopter gunships. Sources said that groups of armed people attacked the Frontier Corps (FC) camp in the Kohlu township twice on Monday. In the first attack launched at around 3am, eight rockets were fired from the Jandaran mountains. The second attack came at around 5am. The FC troops retaliated and fired 11 rockets, killing one of the attackers. "One person was found dead in Fazalchal area,â official sources said, adding that others escaped from the area. The sources said that heavy fighting was reported between paramilitary forces and âoutlawsâ in Baluchistan's mountain ranges. Rockets and heavy machine-guns were reportedly used against the paramilitary forces and the helicopter gunships. The sources said that after destroying the hideouts and training camps, the FC troops arrested around 30 people and seized huge quantities of arms and ammunition. However, Marri tribesman Najeeb Marri claimed that around 100 people of his tribe had been arrested in different areas of Kohlu district and in Quetta. âThe operation has been going on in a vast area of the tribal district for two days and there have been heavy causalities,â he told Dawn in a telephone interview. Incidents of firing were also reported from the Dera Bugti area on Monday afternoon, increasing tension in the area which had already faced a severe government action on March 17 which claiming over 70 lives. Pakistan's federal interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao also made a brief visit to the provincial capital Quetta. According to government sources, he held a meeting with officials and discussed the ongoing military operation. Leaders of the Baluch Alliance announced here on Monday that a âblack dayâ would be observed in the province on Wednesday to protest against the military operation. They said Baluchistan was a political issue and the problem could only be resolved politically because military operations undertaken in 1948, 1958, 1965 and 1973 had failed because of the âbrave resistance by the Baluch massesâ. Habib Jalib Baloch (Baluch National Party-Mengal), Agha Shahid Hasan Bugti of Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) and Dr Ishaq Baloch of National Party declared that Baluch people would not compromise on national rights and would never surrender. They said the military operation had been planned beforehand and the visit of President Musharraf to Kohlu and the firing of rockets during the visit was part of a plan to pave the way for launching the army action in the area.
Reports say the situation in Dera Bugti is tense and the area has been sealed off by paramilitary forces equipped with heavy weapons and another operation in the area may be launched any time. "All roads leading to Dera Bugti have been blocked and government buildings close to the roads have been taken over by Frontier Corps personnel,â the chief of Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti said in a telephone interview with the Pakistani daily Dawn from his home town of Dera Bugti on Monday. | |
| Posted by:Steve |