3 killed, 5 injured as gunmen attack passenger bus in Balochistan's Mastung

Three people were killed and five others injured in a gun attack on a Karachi-bound passenger bus, while a bridge on the National Highway was damaged in an explosion in the Khud Kocha area of Mastung district on Wednesday, suspending traffic between Quetta and Karachi for several hours.

Citing the deteriorating security situation, the Balochistan Home Department imposed an indefinite curfew in Khud Kocha sub-tehsil of Mastung district from 9pm on Wednesday.

Babar Yousafzai, spokesperson for the Home Department, said the curfew would remain in force until further orders to maintain peace and public safety. Residents were not allowed to leave their homes, and all unnecessary movement was prohibited.

“Strict legal action will be taken against anyone found violating the curfew orders,” Yousafzai said, urging citizens to avoid unnecessary travel and cooperate with authorities until normal conditions were restored.

The gun and bomb attacks were reported at a time when security forces killed 10 terrorists and arrested two female suicide bombers, along with their facilitator, during intelligence-based operations in Mastung and Surab districts over the past 48 hours, according to the military’s media wing.

Police said a passenger coach operated by a private transport company was travelling from Quetta to Karachi when it came under indiscriminate fire in the Garo area of Khud Kocha tehsil.

Armed men positioned on nearby mountains opened fire on the bus, killing three passengers and injuring five others.

Security forces and rescue personnel rushed to the scene and shifted the bodies and the injured to the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital in Mastung.

The bodies were handed over to the victims’ families after legal formalities were completed, while authorities launched an investigation into the attack and began searching for those responsible.

Bridge damaged

Traffic between Quetta and Karachi remained suspended for several hours after a bridge on the Quetta-Karachi National Highway in the Khud Kocha area of Mastung district was damaged.

A police official confirmed that miscreants had planted explosives under the bridge in the Anjari area of Khud Kocha and detonated them in the early hours of Wednesday.

“The bridge was badly damaged in the explosion, suspending all kinds of traffic on the Quetta-Karachi National Highway. However, no casualties were reported in the blast,” the police official said.

Long queues of buses, goods trucks and other vehicles were seen on both sides of the highway following the blast.

Later in the evening, authorities allowed small vehicles to travel after making alternative arrangements. Security forces reached the area soon after the explosion and launched a search operation to trace those involved in the attack.

Earlier this month, security forces and law enforcement personnel jointly launched Operation Shaban in Balochistan in retaliation for a deadly attack on a police post at the Mangi Dam pumping station in Ziarat on July 6. During that assault, armed attackers kidnapped and killed 27 police officers.

A monthly security assessment released in early June by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) said that after two consecutive months of improvement, Pakistan’s security situation deteriorated sharply in May, driven primarily by escalating terrorist violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

The report said Balochistan emerged as the most affected province during the month. The province recorded 71 terrorist attacks, compared with 34 in April, representing a 109pc increase.

The deteriorating security situation was further reflected in a surge in kidnappings, it said. Of the 54 abductions reported nationwide during May, 52 occurred in Balochistan alone, highlighting the growing operational reach and confidence of terrorist groups in the province, it said.

On July 9, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the country’s civil and military leadership had taken a “mutual and singular decision” to end terrorism after multiple major terrorist incidents in Balochistan.

He made the remarks at a meeting in Quetta of the Provincial Apex Committee on the National Action Plan, with Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir also present.

PM Shehbaz’s statement came a day after the military Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry addressed a press conference, pointing the finger squarely at India and Afghanistan for being behind recent attacks in Balochistan.

He specifically mentioned “three major terrorist incidents” in recent days — an armed attack on the outskirts of Quetta on July 5, an assault on a police post in Ziarat on July 6, and an ambush of an army convoy in Bela on July 7.

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