Tension gripped the provincial capital on Saturday morning when five people were killed and 10 injured in armed clashes between the police and some protesters.
The tragedy began with the killing of Ghulam Rasool by some unknown armed men in the Kirani area of the Brewery Road on Saturday morning. Following the incident, dozens of people blocked the Brewery Road and protested against the killing.
As the police reached the spot to defuse the tension, some of the protesters reportedly opened fire on personnel of the law-enforcement agency. The police retaliated and as a result four people were killed and 10 others were injured.
The bodies and the injured were rushed to the Bolan Medical Complex. The injured policemen were shifted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) for treatment. Some of the injured are in critical situation, hospital sources told The News.
Later, the protesters, armed with sophisticated weapons, moved on to the nearby mountains and started firing on the police. The exchange of fire between the police and the protesters continued for several hours. The attackers had not vacated their positions till the filing of this report.
Large contingents of the Anti Terrorist Force (ATF) and the police were deployed in the area. Contingents of the Frontier Corps (FC) also patrolled the area. On the same evening, when a four-member reconciliatory committee, headed by provincial ministers Jan Ali Changezi and Shafiq Ahmad, reached Kirani, their vehicles came under attack. However, they remained unhurt.
Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani has strongly condemned the incident, directing the IG Police to probe the tragic event. The Balochistan government has also constituted a judicial commission headed by a judge of the Balochistan High Court to probe the event.
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