At least 9 police personnel were killed in a gun attack by armed assailants. The deadly attack targeted the police force deployed for security at the under-construction Mangi Dam project in Zhob district of Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
According to Zhob district Deputy Commissioner Abdul Quddus Achakzai, two senior police officers are among those killed. Several police personnel have been missing since the attack, and security forces have launched a massive search operation to locate them.
No organization has claimed responsibility for the attack so far. However, the Balochistan administration claimed that 15 members of the Pakistan Taliban were killed during a ‘clearance operation’ conducted in Zhob after the incident.
Meanwhile, local residents staged a protest on the national highway near the attack site in protest against the incident.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi strongly condemned the attack and called the slain personnel the pride of Pakistan.
The deceased police personnel were on duty providing security for the Mangi Dam project, which is being built to address the water crisis in Quetta city.
Note: Armed groups have been active for a long time in Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran. Demanding greater autonomy, attacks targeting security forces occur from time to time in the region.
In May last year, the Balochistan Liberation Army was accused of attacking a train carrying military personnel and killing 20 people. Recently, the Taliban government in Afghanistan also claimed to have carried out attacks in this border region, while the Pakistan Army said it shot down four drones.
