QUETTA, 12 May 2006 — Six policemen were killed and dozens wounded yesterday in a series of land mine blasts at a police training school in southwestern Pakistan, officials said.
Five land mines blew up in quick succession as the police officers were taking part in target practice on a firing range at the school in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province.
“It is an act of terrorism. These land mines were planted last night near the firing range of Police Training College,” said Inspector General of Balochistan Police Chaudhry Yaqub. He said most of injured have been shifted to the General Hospital here and seven of the injured are in critical condition. He said, “We have imposed emergency in Quetta and adjoining areas. Checking on the main highways has been tightened.”
He did not rule out possibility of defunct Balochistan Liberation Army’s (BLA) involvement in the latest terrorist act, adding
that two suspects have been detained so far and the scope of investigation was being widened
Police blamed the blasts on anti-government tribesmen who have been waging a two-year insurgency in the province to press their demands for a greater share of local natural resources.
The BLA claimed responsibility for the blasts, insisting that nine police were killed. “The attack was an expression of our hatred against police and levy (tribal police) who are being used by Islamabad against Baloch people,” its spokesman Meerak Baluch said in calls to news organizations.
Pakistan last month outlawed the BLA and branded it a terrorist organization.
The bodies of the six were taken to a hospital in Quetta along with 28 injured, seven of whom are in critical condition, Dr. Fazalur Rehman said.
Two suspects have been detained in connection with the blast, Yaqub said. Police were probing their links with an Afghan family who lived near the site and were killed in an explosion at their home last month.
An injured policeman, Shams-ud Din, said at the hospital that some of the policemen were shooting at targets and others were approaching the range when he heard a string of loud explosions.
“As we were busy firing, suddenly there were huge blasts nearby and I heard people crying in pain amid clouds of smoke and dust,” Din said, adding that he then fell unconscious and found himself being taken to hospital later.
Relatives of the casualties flooded the hospital, where the government declared an emergency. More than 150 people have died in Balochistan this year, both through bomb and rocket attacks blamed on tribesmen and through military operations against the rebels, according to official Pakistani sources.
The desert province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has had a string of attacks on gas fields, electricity pylons, railways and other government-run facilities blamed on the tribal insurgents.
Yaqub said Pakistani authorities had “proof” that the Indian Consulate in southern Afghanistan was funding separatist groups in Balochistan to fuel the insurgency, echoing previous claims by the government.
He told reporters that police had also arrested some members of the rebel Bugti and Marri tribes who confessed they had been getting money and instructions from some nationalist leaders for “terrorist activities.”
Separately yesterday, suspected tribal rebels blew up a pylon disrupting power to the Kohlu and Barkhan districts, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) southeast of Quetta, officials said.
Also yesterday police defused a bomb planted under a bridge on the main highway linking Quetta with the southern port city of Karachi.
— Additional input from agencies.
