Quetta - A senior police officer and three of his family members including his wife and son were gunned down by armed assailants in Quetta’s Nawan Killi area on Wednesday evening.
The attackers manage to flee from the scene after committing the offence.
According to police, the armed motorcyclists targeted SP Muhammad Ilyas and his family in Nawan Killi when they were travelling in a vehicle. The firing killed SP Muhammad Ilyas, his wife, son advocate Muhammad Adil and Abdul Wahab while daughter Marwa was injured.
The police said the attack was a target killing. One daughter of SP Ilyas was rushed in critical condition to a hospital.
After the incident, security personnel and FC officials reached the crime scene and cordoned off the area, launching a search operation to trace the culprits. The dead and injured were shifted to Civil Hospital Quetta for medico-legal formalities.
SP Ilyas was the second high-ranking police officer who was targeted in cold blood. A few days ago, deputy inspector general of police (DIG) Hamid Shakeel along with his two guards was killed in a suicide strike in Quetta.
Meanwhile, Balochistan Governor Muhammad Khan Achakzai and Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri have condemned the killing of police officer and his other family members.
Agencies add: According to district police sources, SP City Investigation Muhammad Ilyas was going home along with his family when terrorists riding a motorbike intercepted his official vehicle and sprayed bullets on it, killing SP Investigation and his wife on the spot.
His son Abdul Wahab and grandson could not survive injuries in hospital while his daughter is fighting for survival in intensive care unit of Civil Hospital.
Deceased Ilyas belonged to city of Sialkot. He was living inside Police Lines of Quetta.
“Unknown assailants sprayed bullets on the vehicle of acting Superintendent of Police Muhammad Ilyas,” senior police official Abdul Razzaq Cheema told AFP. He said the officer, his wife, son and granddaughter were killed in the attack.
Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack but militant and separatist groups have targeted police in the province in the past.
Earlier in the day, security forces recovered 15 bullet-riddled dead bodies of mostly Punjab residents from Kech district of Balochistan, who had reportedly been shot at close range by unidentified assailants.
The men were apparently taken from their vehicle and shot at point blank range, senior administration official Akbar Harifal told AFP. “All of them were illegally travelling to Iran,” he said.
Human traffickers often used Iran border for smuggling people, seeking better future, to Europe.
The incident was confirmed by the spokesperson of the provincial government, Anwaar ul Haq Kakar. “It seems to be the work of separatist groups,” he said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
According to Turbat Deputy Commissioner Darmoon Bahawani, the security forces found 15 bodies from a mountainous area of Buleda tehsil of Kech district, some 30km away from Turbat, and shifted them to the district headquarters hospital.
Assistant Commissioner (AC) Turbat Jamil Ahmed told journalists that the victims had been kidnapped at gunpoint by unknown men when they were on their way to Iran.
Most of the victims belonged to Punjab districts of Mandi Bahauddin and Sialkot. Some of them were also identified as hailing from Gujranwala, Gujrat and Wah Cantt.
Earlier on May 14, the BLA operatives killed 10 Sindhi labourers in Gwadar, which prompted a strong wave of condemnation.
The district administration sources said contacts were being made to collect information of the victims and their heirs from the district administrations concerned.
11 out of the 15 victims were recognised as Muhammad Hussain (Wah Cantt), Zulfiqar (Railway Phatak Mandi Bahauddin), Khurram Shezad (Mandi Bahauddin), Ghulam Rabbani (Wazirabad, Gujranwala), Zafran Zahid (Sialkot), Azhar Waqas (Mandi Bahauddin), Saifullah (Gujrat), Muhammad Ilyas (Sialkot), Abdul Ghafoor (Sialkot), Tuhaib (Sialkot) and Ahsan Raza (Gujranwala).
Personnel from law-enforcing agencies cordoned off the entire area and started raiding various places to trace the culprits.
Balochistan Governor Muhammad Khan Achakzai and Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri condemned the killing of 15 persons in Turbat and said the perpetrators did not deserve to be called human beings.
The chief minister ordered formation of an investigation team for taking a comprehensive review of the heart-wrenching incident.
Zehri directed the relevant provincial and federal departments to take stern action against those involved in crossing the border.