Gunmen kill eight soldiers in Gwadar

Gunmen kill eight soldiers in Gwadar

* Three others injured in attack on Pakistan Coast Guards camp in Pisukan coastal settlement

* Baloch Liberation Front claims responsibility for attack

Gunmen kill eight soldiers in Gwadar

 Gunmen kill eight soldiers in Gwadar

QUETTA: At least eight security personnel were killed and three others were injured on Saturday in an attack on the Pakistan Coast Guards camp in Pishukan coastal settlement, some 40 kilometres from the port city of Gwadar. Talking to Daily Times, Gwadar Assistant Commissioner Rehmat Dashti said, “Unidentified armed men in three pick-up trucks fired at officials when the officials signalled them to stop for routine search at Pishukan checkpost.” He also said as many as eight security officials were killed and a passerby sustained injuries. The port town of Gwadar has seen a construction boom over the past decade as part of Pakistan’s plans to develop it, with Chinese help, into a trading hub.According to sources, one of the three trucks was stopped at the checkpost. “The men on the other two trucks opened fire on the checkpost,” they added. The assailants fled from the scene. Sources said two havaldars and a wireless operator were also among those killed. The deceased were identified as Ghani Asif, Sher Ali, Riaz Ahmed, Akmal, Adnan, Shahbaz and Abdul Sattar. The bodies and the injured were taken to the Liaquat Battalion Headquarters in Gwadar. Later, the injured were moved to Karachi. Strong contingents of law enforcers rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area. However, no arrests were made. The Baloch Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the attack. “Armed men surrounded Pashookan post of Pakistan coast guards near the town of Gwadar and gunned down seven soldiers,” local administration chief Sohailur Rehman said, adding that three other soldiers were wounded.The assailants, believed to be about a dozen, fled on motorbikes after the shooting, another official Rehmat Dashti told AFP.Balochistan suffers from militancy, sectarian violence and a separatist insurgency which also targets government officials and security agencies.Last week, the chief justice of Pakistan accused paramilitary forces of involvement in a third of all disappearances in the province.According to the public relations officer of the coast guards, the impersonators, who were more than eight in number, fired rockets and resorted to firing at the checkpost in the Pishukan area. All the eight personnel of Coast Guards present inside the checkpost, sustained bullet injuries and died on the spot. The assailants managed to escape the scene.“The armed men, who came in many vehicles, were wearing the FC uniform - a bid to defame the Frontier Corps,” the official added. Pishukan is a sub-tehsil of Tehsil Jiwani and some 40 kilometres from Gwadar, the winter capital of Balochistan. Pishukan is 70 kilometres from Pak-Iran boarder. Around 95 percent residents of Pishukan are fishermen. Report source is Daily Times/agencies