ZHOB/QUETTA - Two militants blew themselves up when FC and secret agencies jointly carried out raid near Sabakzai Dam in Zhob, sources said. According to sources, a huge cache of arms was also seized in the raid. As many as 800 locally made bombs, 50 land mines, 200 kilograms of explosive material, hand grenades and kalashnikovs were recovered from the site, they added.
Separately, a security man was killed and seven others injured in an attack on a vehicle in Dera Bugti on Saturday.
Levies sources said unidentified men attacked a vehicle of security personnel with modern weaponry near Loti Gas Field in Dera Bugti. As a result one security man died on the spot while seven sustained critical wounds. The injured were shifted to PPLI Hospital Sui, where, according to hospital sources, condition of three injured was critical. Bomb disposal squad defused two bombs planted at a railway track near Sariab Road in Quetta on Saturday morning.
According to police, 5 kilograms of explosive material was used in both the bombs. The railway track was reopened after bombs were defused, police said.
Meanwhile, fearing a possible jailbreak, the provincial government of Balochistan has shifted 24 high-profile prisoners from District Jail Quetta.
The decision to shift the high profile prisoners was made at a meeting held at the Home and Tribal Affairs Department of Balochistan. Senior officers from Home and Prison departments participated in the meeting, which discussed possible attacks on prisons in the province. Muhammad Asif Butt, the superintendent of District Jail Quetta, told reporters that 24 high-profile prisoners had been shifted.
He said Frontier Corps Balochistan Constabulary, police and rapid response force personnel were deployed around the jail to avoid occurrence of any untoward incident during the shifting. “All prisoners have been sentenced to death,” he said.
There are a total of 97 prisoners who have been awarded death sentence. A total of 14 prisoners have filed their mercy petitions before President Mamnoon Hussain.
“Within a few days’ time, the fate of these prisoners would be decided,” an officer of the Home Department said.
The number of inmates in all 11 jails in Balochistan is more than 3,000. According to sources in the prison department, four jails - including District Jail Quetta, Khuzdar, Gaddani and Mach - have been declared sensitive.
Security around jails has been beefed up in the aftermath of the Peshawar school carnage and lifting of the moratorium on the death penalty by the federal government.