Wednesday, 05 Aug, 2009
By Saleem Shahid


Relatives and comrades carry a coffin of a policeman during a funeral in Dera Murad Jamali.—AFP

QUETTA: The bodies of four police personnel killed by kidnappers were handed over to police in Nasirabad on Tuesday

A senior police officer said that the policemen, including the SHO of the Mir Hasan police station, Inspector Ehsanullah Khosa, and sub-inspector of the Anti-Terrorist Force Shoaib Bhatti, had been shot in head at close range.

The funeral prayers were offered in the Police Lines of Dera Murad Jamali and the bodies were later handed over to relatives.

Eight police officials have been killed by kidnappers over the past four days. Deputy superintendent of police Mohammad Ali Khosa and three other policemen had been killed on July 30-31.

According to sources, a number of police personnel have been kidnapped after police launched an operation against militants in the Lalo Koh area of Dera Bugti and about a dozen were still missing.

The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, which has claimed responsibility for kidnapping 17 people, including six police personnel, has warned of killing more policemen if their demands, including release of Baloch leaders and political workers, are not met within ‘24 hours’.

The deadline would end at midnight on Tuesday. The sources said that police had not taken any action for the recovery of 11 labourers and police officials.

The sources said that senior police officials had been in Dera Murad Jamali since July 31 and a contingent of Anti-Terrorist Force was also stationed there.

Provincial authorities, they said, were reluctant to launch an operation against the kidnappers. ‘The FC will act only at the request of the provincial government,’ the sources said.

Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani has asked the authorities concerned to take strict action against the kidnappers.