BNP leader Amanullah Zehri shot dead in Khuzdar

Grandson, two guards also killed in the attack

QUETTA - Balochistan National Party (BNP) leader Nawabzada Mir Amanullah Khan Zehri and three other people were gunned down by unknown armed assailants in Khuzdar district on Saturday.

According to Deputy Commissioner Khuzdar Major ® Muhammad Ilyas Kabzai, Nawabzada Mir Amanullah Khan Zehri along with his 15-year-old grandson Mardan Niaz Khan Zarakzai was on his way home to Noorgama Zehri area from Bulbul area in vehicles when his convoy was passing Crash Plant some armed assailants riding motorcycles opened indiscriminate firing on the convoy and managed to escape from the scene.

As a result, Nawabzada Amanullah Zehri, his grandson and his two security guards namely Sikandar Khan resident of Manjushori area of Nasirabad district and Nisar Ahmed resident of Zehri died on the spot after receiving multiple bullet injuries.

Police said the politician was the target of the miscreants. The district administrator suggested the attack was a tribal dispute.

No group has claimed the attack yet.

Soon after the incident, Levies force team led by Deputy Commissioner Khuzdar on receiving the information reached the site and shifted the bodies to Civil Hospital Zehri where the bodies have been handed over to the heirs after completion of medico-legal formalities.

Levies force cordoned off the entire area and started search operation to trace out attackers.

Further investigation was underway.

BNP President and Member National Assembly Akhtar Mengal confirmed the deaths in a Twitter post, calling it a “dark day for the party and people of Balochistan.”

“Another dark day for BNP and the people of Balochistan. This loss has deprived us all. I’m lost of words today. Devastated to learn that Shaheed Amanullah Zehri with his friends and innocent grandson have been brutally killed in the middle of the night. May Allah have mercy,” Mengal wrote.

Condemning the killings, PPP senior leader Farhatullah Babar in a tweet said “My prayers, my condolences.

Martyrdom of Mir Amanullah Zarakzai son of Nowrouz Khan a huge loss not only to Balochistan but also to resistance politics anywhere. May Allah rest his soul in eternal peace and grant patience to all bereaved:

ANOTHER PRAYER LEADER SHOT DEAD

Police said on Saturday that a second mosque’s prayer leader had been killed in as many days near Quetta.

Mohammad Azam was shot dead in front of a grocery store, according to Shafqat Mahmood, a police officer in Kuchlak, where the attacks occurred.

On Friday, a bomb planted in a mosque under the prayer leader’s wooden chair killed him and three other worshippers and wounded 20.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks.

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