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| India-Pakistan |
| DSP among four cops killed in Quetta ambush |
| 2009-01-16 |
| n another incident of target killing, four policemen, including a deputy superintendent of police, were killed and another seriously injured on the Sariab Road here on Wednesday. According to official sources, five policemen, including two DSPs, Hassan Ali and Ghulam Muhammad, were on their way to the police training college in an official white colour Suzuki jeep when they were ambushed by unidentified gunmen. The attackers sprayed the police vehicle with bullets from automatic weapons, injuring all the five policemen seriously. Of them, three police constables and a DSP, who sustained multiple bullet injuries, succumbed to their injuries. The second DSP was shifted to the CMH for treatment after first aid at the Civil Hospital. Reports suggested that the assailants had taken positions near the Government Girls' Polytechnic School on the Sariab Road. As the police vehicle approached, they ambushed it. The attack was so sudden and intense that it left no room for any possible retaliation. The attackers, subsequently, fled the spot, leaving behind the cops in a pool of blood. DSP Hussan Ali and Constable Nasrullah breathed their last on way to the Bolan Medical Complex, while Muhammad Taqi and Sibghatullah died in hospital. On being informed, senior officials of the police and law-enforcement agencies reached the spot and started probe into the matter. Police recovered empty rounds of Kalashnikov and 9-MM pistol from the spot. A senior police official told The News that special teams had been constituted to conduct raids and arrest those involved in the killings. He said the police had established check-posts at all entry and exit points of the Quetta city. However, no arrest was reported till our going to the press. Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani took a serious notice of the tragic incident. He strongly condemned the attack and directed the capital city police officer to apprehend the culprits within 48 hours. The chief minister asserted that the government would not spare terrorists and deal with them with iron hands. The incident created tension in the provincial capital and the administration had to deploy additional force to maintain law and order. A large number of people belonging to different shades of life, especially the Hazara community, thronged the hospital. Carrying coffins of the victims, they staged a protest in front of the IG police office and, subsequently, the Corps Commander House in Quetta Cantonment. The protesters chanted slogans against the provincial government and police high-ups and demanded of the government to apprehend the attackers, as incidents of target killings have become a matter of routine in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan. Later, the deceased were buried in Hazara graveyard at Marriabad on Wednesday evening. APP adds: President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday strongly condemned the killing of police personnel in Quetta and another incident of hurling grenades at the residence of a PPP leader. The president strongly condemned the incident of firing on the Sariab road, Quetta, in which at least four police personnel were killed. The president said: "Such acts of terrorism would not deter the resolve of the government in the fight against terrorism." The president also strongly condemned the incident in which grenades were hurled at the residence of Pakistan Peoples Party's former MPA Qurban Ali Khan, who remained unhurt in the incident. He said the government was determined to counter terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and would not rest till militants and terrorists are eliminated from the country. |
| Posted by:Fred |