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Terrorism-related Incidents in Quetta - 2008

 

 

Date

Incident

1

January 5

One Frontier Corps soldier died and two other sustained injuries when unidentified miscreants ambushed them in the Spinny Road area.

2

January 10

Six people were injured after they tried to prevent an attack on a barber’s shop in the Essa Nagri area. According to police, a group of people tried to capture the assailant but he attacked with a hand-grenade and opened fire, injuring six of them. The man later escaped in the ensuing confusion.

3

January 18

Two Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militants escaped from a sub-jail located inside the headquarters of the Anti-Terrorist Force (ATF) in the Quetta cantonment area. Usman Saifullah and Shafiqur Rehman were tried by Anti-Terrorism Court in several cases of sectarian killings. The court had sentenced Usman to death for sectarian attacks and Shafiq to life imprisonment in another case.

4

January 31

Six people sustained injuries when a bomb strapped to a bicycle outside the offices of the District Coordination Office and Anti-Terrorist Court on the Anscomb Road.

5

February 5

A suspected suicide bomber was killed at Sabzal Road when the explosives he was carrying detonated accidentally. The blast also injured two pedestrians.

6

February 17

Four persons, including two police officers, were injured in Killi Qambrani when some people attacked the polling station with a hand-grenade. Some people lobbed a hand-grenade on the roof of a government school in Killi Ismail housing a polling station. Another blast was reported from the Sariab area while two other polling stations and the office of a union council were bombed in Mashkey. However, no casualty was reported in these blasts.

7

February 21

Unidentified assailants shot dead three traffic policemen in Quetta. Capital City Police Officer Mohammad Akbar said the officers, Sub-Inspector Abdul Latif and Constables Bashir and Muhammad Ayub, were performing routine traffic duty in Killi Ismail when assailants rode up to them on a motorcycle and opened fire. Bibarg Baloch, a spokesman of the banned Balochistan Liberation Army, claimed responsibility for the attack.

8

February 29

Suspected militants triggered a bomb blast in an open ground at Killi Khezi. However, no loss of life or property was reported.

9

March 3

Suspected insurgents damaged a gas pipeline in Hazargangi in the outskirts of Quetta.

10

March 8

Five suspected suicide bombers were arrested after a powerful explosion left four of them injured in a house in Pashtoonabad. "A suicide jacket, around 3kg of high explosive material, two remote-controlled systems, four electronic detonators, Jihadi literature and CDs were seized from the house," said Rehmatullah Niazi, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Operations).

11

March 10

Five persons were wounded when a truck of the Frontier Corps passing through the Eidgah Road was attacked with a hand-grenade. Another explosion in a street off the busy Orchard Road injured a six-year-old girl.

12

March 19

A FC soldier, identified as Zulfiqar Ali, was killed and another sustained injuries by armed men on a motorbike on the Manu Jan Road in Quetta.

13

March 24

Unidentified people blew up a bulldozer and a vehicle of the security forces with explosives in Quetta. However, no loss of life was reported.

14

March 27

A railway track linking the provincial capital Quetta with Iran was blown up near Dalbandin.

A bomb blast was reported from Quetta and a grenade exploded in a grid station in Sariab.

15

March 28

Railway traffic between Quetta and the rest of the country was suspended for several hours after a portion of the main track was blown up by saboteurs near the Degree College. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

A gas pipeline was blown up on the outskirts of Quetta causing suspension of gas supply to various parts of the provincial capital.

16

March 29

A policeman, Syed Jamil Shah, was killed by suspected insurgents in the Saddar Police Station area of Quetta by unidentified militants.

17

April 1

Police said that unidentified gunmen killed one Frontier Corps trooper, Habibur Rehman, and injured four soldiers after opening fire at them in Quetta. Police official Raja Fayyaz told AP that the soldiers came under fire as they traveled through Quetta on a routine patrol. There was no claim of responsibility.

18

April 2

Two SF personnel were shot dead by unidentified armed men at the Quetta airport road near Killi Alamo. The SF personnel were on their routine assignment in plain clothes when unidentified assailants attacked them. The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the killing.

19

April 3

Three linemen of the Quetta Electric Supply Company were wounded when a landmine exploded in the Pashkram village of Mastung district. They were repairing a power pylon which had been blown up on April 2-night.

20

April 6

Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi has said that reconciliation efforts have begun in the province and the new Government will take steps to make them successful. He informed the media in provincial capital Quetta that stopping military operation and restoring peace and normality in the province would be the new Government’s priority. He said the Government’s first task should be to initiate dialogue with dissidents because the use of force over the past five years had not yielded any positive result.

21

April 13

A hand-grenade lobbed on children playing cricket and football in the Ayub Stadium in Quetta, caused injuries to three boys.

A spokesman for the BLA, Beebargh Baloch, claimed responsibility for the killing of FC personnel in Quetta. He also said that the BLA was behind landmine explosions in Mastung and Khuzdar. He accused the security forces of arresting many innocent people during search operations in the Seiah Koh area of Marri and Dera Bugti.

22

April 15

Two FC personnel, Saifur Rehman and Saifitullah, were shot dead in Quetta.

23

April 17

Unidentified armed men killed a police constable and injured two others in Quetta. Constable Amin Atif was shot dead by unidentified persons on the city’s Joint Road while another policeman, Munir Ahmed, and a civilian, Abdul Sattar, were injured in the incident.

24

April 18

An explosion near the building of the Balochistan Intermediate and Secondary Education Board in the provincial capital Quetta damaged the windowpanes of the adjacent buildings without causing any causality.

The banned BLA claimed responsibility for the killing of a policeman in Quetta on April 17, and warned that it would carry out more such attacks in future. Attacks by the BLA have reportedly intensified since the new government took over, despite an offer by Chief Minister Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani to resolve differences through dialogue. The BLA has rejected the offer.

25

April 22

The Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Balochistan University, Dr. Safdar Kiyani, was shot dead by insurgents in Quetta. According to sources, two people on a motorbike opened fire on Dr. Kiyani when he came out of his house in the Green Town area on Sariab road for an evening walk. The BLA has claimed responsibility for the murder. "He had been working for intelligence agencies and we had already warned him," the BLA spokesman Beebargh Baloch told reporters from an unspecified location

26

April 28

The railway link between provincial capital Quetta and the rest of Pakistan was cut off after the main track was blown up by insurgents in the Sariab area. It was the second incident of the blowing up of railway track in 24 hours. According to sources, a four-foot portion of track was blown up by some people in the Dashat area, some 30km off Quetta, at 2am.

27

May 1

A policeman, Jumma Khan, was shot dead by the insurgents in Quetta. The Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack.

28

May 3

Three bomb blasts were reported from Quetta. Police said two explosions occurred in the early hours at two nearby streets in the Huda area. The bombs had been planted in dustbins close to houses at the Sheikh Omar road and the Ahmed Shah Street. Another explosion occurred in the afternoon close to the house of one Nizamuddin Kakar in the Balochi Street area. However, no one was injured in the explosions.

29

May 4

The federal Government has decided to withdraw the Frontier Corps (FC) from Gwadar and Quetta and hand over the responsibility of managing the law and order to police in the two cities. APP reported that FC sources said more than 600 FC troops had been withdrawn from 28 check-posts in the provincial capital Quetta, adding that about the same number of troops had also been recalled from the Gwadar district.

30

May 7

Two policemen and a civilian were shot dead in Quetta, triggering a reaction by local businessmen, who shut down their businesses in protest against the killings. Suspected insurgents shot dead two policemen, Noor Ahmed Shahwani and Muhammad Nasir, and passerby Abdul Karim on Quetta’s Sariab Road. The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack

31

May 9

A bomb exploded at a restaurant in Quetta, injuring at least 19 persons. A handmade bomb was detonated at the Al-Saeed Hotel on Smungali Road in Quetta’s Jinnah Town, said Capital City Police Officer Mohammad Akbar.

32

May 13

A policeman was killed and two others sustained injuries in an attack by the insurgents in Quetta. The BLA claimed responsibility for the killing. It also reportedly warned the people of Balochistan to quit working for law-enforcement agencies or "the BLA will kill them". BLA spokesman Bibarg Baloch said that Baloch people should quit their jobs in the army, Frontier Corps and police, adding that people should also refrain from seeking jobs in the law-enforcement agencies. He also asked the people not to stand near police or security check-posts, to avoid collateral damage that might result because of the BLA’s plans to target security forces. "Regular attacks will take place on government installations and policemen. The BLA feels sorry for innocent people who are often killed in attacks on security forces," he said.

33

May 14

A militant group called the Ghazi Abdul Rashid Shaheed Brigade (GARSB) has threatened video shops owners in Quetta to quit their business or "face suicide attacks." "All music centre owners, cable operators and cinema owners should immediately quit their businesses and seek Allah’s forgiveness otherwise such individuals will be killed and suicide attacks will be carried out against them," reads a recent warning from the GARSB. The group is named after Islamabad’s Red Mosque’s slain prayer leader Ghazi Abdul Rashid.

34

May 15

An anti-terrorism court in Quetta sentenced five accused persons to life imprisonment for their involvement in a suicide attack on an Ashura procession. At least 44 people were killed and 154 were injured when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the Liaquat Bazaar on March 2, 2004. The five persons were identified as Daud Badani, Shaukat Ali, Habibullah, Haider Khan and Usman Saifullah.

35

May 28

Motorcycle borne gunmen shot dead two persons, identified as Mohammad Israr and Mohammad Iqbal, near a shop near the Railway Girls High School in Quetta. "It is a target killing," a senior police officer said. In another incident in the railway guard colony in Quetta, a soldier and a civilian were shot dead.

36

May 30

Six youths were shot dead and four others sustained injuries in an ambush by the insurgents on the Samungli Road in Quetta. A spokesman for the BLA claimed responsibility for the attack. A majority of the murdered boys belonged to Quetta’s ethnic Hazara minority. The BLA claimed that those killed were spying for the Military Intelligence and the Inter-Services Intelligence.

37

June 3

Five Afghan children were killed and an equal number of them sustained injuries in an explosion in a house on the Sariab Road in Quetta. The explosion occurred in the house of an Afghan scrap dealer when the children were reportedly attempting to dismantle a mortar shell.During another incident in Quetta; Police foiled an attempt to blow up the offices of the Inspector General of Prisons by defusing a bomb planted near the department on Samungli road.

38

June 29

Police seized 650 kilograms of high explosives from a vehicle in the Killi Darwishabad area of provincial capital Quetta after a clash with suspected militants.

39

July 1

Power supply to Mastung, Kalat and Quetta was suspended after a pylon of the 132-KV Quetta-Mastung transmission line in the Mianghundi area was blown up by the insurgents. However, no loss of life or injury was reported.

40

July 2

A man lobbed a hand-grenade on the City Police station in a busy shopping area of provincial capital Quetta. The grenade exploded inside the police station, injuring a sub-inspector.

41

July 3

Four local workers assisting a foreign media team were injured when unidentified assailants opened fire on them in the Kanak area of Mastung district, the hometown of Balochistan chief minister, some 40-kilometres from Quetta.

42

July 4

A bomb fixed on a motorcycle exploded outside a bank in Quetta, killing a five-year-old girl and injuring 12 others, including five policemen.

43

July 6

In the provincial capital Quetta, a civilian, identified as Ghulam Mustafa Shah, was killed and two other persons were injured. Unidentified men killed the district president of the Shia group Tehreek-e-Jaferia Pakistan (TJP) and injured a minor boy. President of the TJP unit in Nasirabad district, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, was killed at the Sariab Road in the provincial capital Quetta.

44

July 7

A young girl was killed and 13 persons, including five policemen, sustained injuries in a bomb blast at Minan Chowk in Quetta. Unidentified assailants shot dead a Punjabi-speaking Shia lawyer, Ghulam Mustafa Qureshi, on the Jan Muhammad Road in Quetta. Amanullah Baloch, newly elected president of the Balochistan Bar Association said, "Mustafa was a Punjabi as well as a member of the Shia community. Thus, it is premature to say who could have killed him, but we hope that the government will take the culprits to task." In the provincial capital Quetta, police arrested two alleged militants involved in firing on police teams. Two pistols were seized from their possession.

45

July 21

Police claimed to have foiled an attempt to carry out a series of car bomb blasts in Quetta and arrested five persons, including Tajiks from Afghanistan’s Kandahar province. Apart from defusing the explosives packed in the cars, Police also seized 13 live detonators and 10 mobile phones connected with the detonators. Security force personnel arrested a suspected Taliban commander from a house in the Kharotabad area of Quetta. Sources told Dawn that the arrested commander, Abdul Rahim, belonged to Hilmand province of Afghanistan and had come to Quetta a few days ago.

46

July 23

Police arrested 10 alleged militants from the Kashmirabad area of provincial capital Quetta and recovered two kilograms of explosive materials from their possession.

47

July 26

A police constable, Khalid Mehmood, was shot dead by unidentified assailants on Quetta’s Masjid Road. A spokesman for the Balochistan Republican Army (BRA) claimed responsibility for the attack. The group also claimed responsibility for the killing of four security officials in an attack on a security officials’ camp in Kohlu Kahan.

48

July 27

A top leader of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) was arrested from Quetta for his alleged involvement in several acts of sectarian terrorism. Shafiq-ur-Rehman was involved in suicide bombings on a mosque in 2003 and on an Ashura procession in 2004. The two attacks left over 100 people dead and about 180 injured, Capital City Police Officer Mohammad Akbar told a press conference.

49

July 29

Suspected insurgents killed a traffic policeman and injured another in the provincial capital Quetta. Though no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, the incident is reportedly part of the ongoing series of target killings of policemen by the Baloch nationalists. So far, around fifty personnel from the police and other security agencies have been killed in such attacks in Balochistan.

In Quetta, police recovered a grenade placed outside a beauty parlour in the Industrial Police Station jurisdiction.

50

July 30

An organization of Afghan Ulema (religious scholars) living in the provincial capital Quetta have rejected a proposal for talks with western diplomats and pledged to continue their fight against US-led allied forces. The Quetta-based organization, Ittehad-i-Ulema of Afghanistan, said in a statement that talks could be held only after the US withdrew its troops and paid compensation to Afghans for the war losses

51

August 3

A Frontier Corps trooper, Ghulam Abbas, was killed and three others sustained injuries when armed men on motorcycles opened fire on them near the Askari park area of Quetta, capital of Balochistan.

Suspected Taliban militants set ablaze furniture, computers and records of a private girls’ school in a suburb of Quetta. Officers of the Sariab Police Station said that four rooms of the Babul Islam Model Public Girls School in Ghilji colony had been destroyed.

52

August 6

Two persons were injured when suspected insurgents lobbed a hand grenade at a stall in the Chaman Pathak area of Quetta, the provincial capital.

An attempt to blow up a gas pipeline near Abdullah Town in Quetta was reportedly foiled. The explosion caused minor damage to the pipeline.

In addition, another minor blast on the outskirts of Quetta caused no casualties, police said.

53

August 14

A head constable of the Balochistan Constabulary was shot dead on the airport road in the provincial capital Quetta.

The blowing up of the railway line caused suspension of train between Quetta and Chaman.

Three explosions were reported from Turbat town, triggering panic among the people. No casualty was reported.

54

August 24

Eight persons were injured in a hand grenade attack in the Sabzal road area of Quetta. According to police, the grenade was hurled on people sitting outside their homes in the Essa Nagri area.

55

September 7

The driver of an oil tanker was killed and his associate wounded when a rocket hit their vehicle in Quetta. According to Police, armed men fired the rocket targeting the tanker carrying fuel for NATO forces deployed in Afghanistan.

56

September 13

A hand grenade was lobbed by unidentified assailants at a Police station in the Khuzdar area of Quetta. However, no casualty was reported.

57

September 15

The law enforcement agencies detained three suspected terrorists and recovered 1,000 kilogram’s of explosives in a raid on a Baloch settlement in the outskirts of Quetta.

58

September 17

Three rockets were fired in the Quetta city. Police said that the first rocket exploded near the Chaman Housing Society minutes before Iftar, the second near a food outlet on Smungali road and the third near an apartment in the same area. No casualty was reported, but windowpanes of nearby houses and shops were smashed. The Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attacks and said these were in response to the operation being carried out by security forces in the New Kahan area.

59

September 19

A bomb exploded at a madrassa (seminaries) run by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in Quetta, killing five people and injuring 10 more.

60

September 19

Unidentified terrorists riding a motorcycle fired at a Police patrol vehicle in Quetta, killing one officer and wounding a Policeman and a passer-by. It was unclear if the two incidents were related.

61

September 22

Three Hazara tribesmen were shot dead at two places in Quetta. Armed assailants on a motorcycle gunned down, Yousuf Ali and Mohammad Alam, who were going to their homes in the Hazara Town. In another incident, armed assailants on a motorbike killed Zaman Ali in the Munawar Colony.

62

September 24

A teenaged female student, Shahida, was killed and 22 others were injured in a suicide blast targeting a Frontier Corps (FC) convoy in the Quetta cantonment area.

63

September 28

11 people were injured in two blasts in the Quetta’s main commercial area. A homemade explosive device went off in a CD shop in Nitha Singh Street, injuring several people. The second blast occurred in Dawood Shopping Plaza where a gas cylinder exploded.

64

October 9

Unidentified assailants lobbed a hand grenade at the car of Baloch Republican Party leader, Saifullah Jattak, in Quetta, partially damaging the vehicle.

65

October 20

Two journalists, including a photojournalist, were injured when a bomb planted near a gas geyser went off outside the offices of local newspapers in Universal Complex in Quetta. Sub-editor Abdul Qayyum and photojournalist Jamal Tarakai of Daily Awwam sustained minor injuries in the incident. The explosion also damaged the windows of nearby buildings, shops and a medical complex.

66

October 20

The Rail link between Quetta and the rest of the country were cut off after a powerful blast blew up a track in the Sariab area. The explosive device was planted at a track near Musa colony.

67

November 7

Murtaza Marri, an information officer from the Balochistan Directorate of Public Relations, and his father Abdullah Marri, a senior banker, were shot dead by suspected militants at Khatm-e-Nabuwat chowk in Quetta.

68

November 13

Three Afghan nationals of Tajik tribe were killed by unidentified assailants in the Sariab area of Quetta. According to Police, the slain persons were identified as Gul Khan, his brother Mohammad Manzoor and Mohammad Hussain.

69

November 19

One person was injured when a bomb exploded near the Quetta railway station.

70

November 19

A bridge was damaged in a bomb blast in Khuzdar. Sources said that a road bridge at Quetta Karachi highway was partially damaged in an explosion that occurred under the bridge in Khuzdar.

71

November 20

The BLA claimed responsibility for the killing of a civilian and injuries to two others in Quetta and Khuzdar, saying the victims were ‘spying’ against Baloch interests. Unidentified motorcyclists opened indiscriminate fire killing Mohammad Ayub in the outskirts of capital Quetta. An official of the Balochistan High Court Malik Aftab, was wounded when unidentified persons shot him in Shahbaz Town. In another incident on Brewery Road in Quetta, motorcyclists opened fire on another civilian, Ali Raza, injuring him.

72

November 20

A bomb explosion occurred in Quetta city while rockets were fired at a check post of Frontier Corps in Loti gas field area. However, no casualty was reported.

73

November 21

A Police constable and a man were shot dead in the Dashat area, some 20 kilometers from capital Quetta, on the Quetta-Sibi road. Police said motorcycle borne gunmen opened fire on Constable Ghulam Hazrat and Allama Hasan Zakri when their van pulled up at a petrol station. They died on the spot. Zakri was a Pesh Imam (prayer leader) at the Punjabi Imambargah in Quetta.

74

December 4

A bomb blast destroyed an Internet café in the Universal Complex of Quetta but did not cause any injuries. The bomb, which had been planted in a cabin inside an Internet café called Matrix, went off at around 6pm, said Mohammad Asif, a Police official. No one present inside the café, including the owner and Internet users, was injured, he added.

76

December 11

The Jama’at-ud-Da’awa office in Quetta, capital of Balochistan, was sealed as part of the countrywide crackdown against the outfit.

77

December 12

Police sealed a JuD office and a library on New Zarghoon Road in capital Quetta. However, no arrests were made.

78

December 16

The Provincial Police Officer Balochistan, Asif Nawaz Warraich, has said that no arrest of any member of the JuD was made. However, there was one office of JuD in Quetta which was sealed.

79

December 17

Militants in Balochistan attacked an oil tanker destined for NATO forces in Afghanistan near east of the provincial capital Quetta. "At least three armed men intercepted a tanker carrying fuel to Kandahar, shot the driver in his leg and spilled some 60,000 litres of oil," said local Police official Mohammad Irshad.

80

December 24

Unidentified assailants shot dead an off-duty Policeman, identified as Constable Muhammad Yusuf, in the Hudda area.

81

December 28

The railway track linking provincial capital Quetta with other parts of the country was blown up and a Karachi to Quetta train was damaged in the Dasht area, Police and railway officials said. They said that no one was injured in the explosion.

 

 

 

 

 

 
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