Baloch tribesmen bombed by helicopter gunships
Paramilitary action in Kohlu continues: Over 50 killed, say tribesmen By Saleem Shahid and Amanullah Kasi
QUETTA, Dec 19: Paramilitary forces continued their operation on Monday in different areas of the Kohlu district of Balochistan, destroying more ‘hideouts and camps of outlaws’, while the FC camp in the Kohlu township also came under rocket attacks.
According to reports reaching here, helicopter gunships attacked targets throughout the day. Firing was also reported in some areas of Dera Bugti.
The Marri tribesmen and the four-party Baloch Alliance claimed that over 50 people had been killed and around 100 injured in helicopter attacks and air strikes in different areas over the past two days. The Anjuman Ittehad Marri claimed that 70 people, including women and children, had been killed and 150 injured in bombings by aircraft and helicopter gunships.
Sources said that groups of armed people twice attacked the FC camp in the Kohlu township early in the morning. In the first attack launched at around 3 am, eight rockets were fired from Jandaran mountains. The second attack came at around 5am. The FC troops retaliated and fired 11 rockets, killing one of the attackers.
“One person was found dead in Fazalchal area,” official sources said, adding that others escaped from the area. The sources said that heavy fighting was reported between paramilitary forces and ‘outlaws’ in the ountain range of Pir Mehmood Shah, Fazalchal, Bambhoor, Kahan and Tali areas. Rockets and heavy machine-guns were used against paramilitary forces and the helicopter gunships.
The sources said that after destroying the hideouts and training camps, the FC troops arrested around 30 people and seized huge quantities of arms and ammunition.
However, Marri tribesman Najeeb Marri claimed that around 100 people of his tribe had been arrested in different areas of Kohlu district and in Quetta.
“The operation has been going on in a vast area of the tribal district for two days and there have been heavy causalities,” he told Dawn on telephone.
Incidents of firing were also reported from the Dera Bugti area on Monday afternoon, increasing tension in the area which had faced a severe government action on March 17 this year, claiming over 70 lives.
Meanwhile, federal Minister for Interior Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao arrived here on a brief visit. According to government sources, he held a meeting with officials concerned and discussed the ongoing operation in different areas of Kohlu. Later, he visited the CMH Quetta where he inquired after the health of Inspector General Frontier Corps Major General Shujaat Zamir Dar and DIG Brigadier Saleem Nawaz who were injured three days ago when their helicopter had come under machine-gun attack in Kohlu area. The minister left for Islamabad in the afternoon.
Leaders of the Baloch Alliance announced here on Monday that a ‘black day’ would be observed in the province on Wednesday in protest against the military operation. An all-parties conference to be held on the same day would determine the future course of action, they said at a press conference.
They said that Balochistan was a political issue and problem could be resolved politically because military operations undertaken in 1948, 1958, 1965 and 1973 had failed because of the “brave resistance by the Baloch masses”.
Habib Jalib Baloch (BNP-Mengal), Agha Shahid Hasan Bugti (JWP) and Dr Ishaq Baloch of National Party declared that Baloch people would not compromise on national rights and would never surrender.
They asserted that during the past two days, planes, helicopter gunships, artillery and other sophisticated weapons had been used by the security forces in Tali, Jandran, Bambhoor, and Kohlu areas in which innocent people had been killed and wounded.
They strongly condemned the use of planes and helicopters and said that the military operation had been planned beforehand and the visit of President Musharraf to Kohlu and the firing of rockets during the visit was part of a plan to pave way for launching the army action in the area.
They said that while the government had launched a full-scale military operation in the Marri area it was reinforcing troops in Dera Bugti and besieged the fort of Nawab Bugti.
Alliance leaders appealed to the International community and human rights organizations, political groups and nationalist parties to raise their voice against the ‘excesses and oppression’ of the security forces in Balochistan.
They said the situation in Dera Bugti was tense and the security forces had established checkposts on the Sui-Dera Bugti road.
They said that on Wednesday, the alliance would hold protest rallies outside press clubs in Quetta and Karachi.
QUETTA, Dec 19: Paramilitary forces continued their operation on Monday in different areas of the Kohlu district of Balochistan, destroying more ‘hideouts and camps of outlaws’, while the FC camp in the Kohlu township also came under rocket attacks.
According to reports reaching here, helicopter gunships attacked targets throughout the day. Firing was also reported in some areas of Dera Bugti.
The Marri tribesmen and the four-party Baloch Alliance claimed that over 50 people had been killed and around 100 injured in helicopter attacks and air strikes in different areas over the past two days. The Anjuman Ittehad Marri claimed that 70 people, including women and children, had been killed and 150 injured in bombings by aircraft and helicopter gunships.
Sources said that groups of armed people twice attacked the FC camp in the Kohlu township early in the morning. In the first attack launched at around 3 am, eight rockets were fired from Jandaran mountains. The second attack came at around 5am. The FC troops retaliated and fired 11 rockets, killing one of the attackers.
“One person was found dead in Fazalchal area,” official sources said, adding that others escaped from the area. The sources said that heavy fighting was reported between paramilitary forces and ‘outlaws’ in the ountain range of Pir Mehmood Shah, Fazalchal, Bambhoor, Kahan and Tali areas. Rockets and heavy machine-guns were used against paramilitary forces and the helicopter gunships.
The sources said that after destroying the hideouts and training camps, the FC troops arrested around 30 people and seized huge quantities of arms and ammunition.
However, Marri tribesman Najeeb Marri claimed that around 100 people of his tribe had been arrested in different areas of Kohlu district and in Quetta.
“The operation has been going on in a vast area of the tribal district for two days and there have been heavy causalities,” he told Dawn on telephone.
Incidents of firing were also reported from the Dera Bugti area on Monday afternoon, increasing tension in the area which had faced a severe government action on March 17 this year, claiming over 70 lives.
Meanwhile, federal Minister for Interior Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao arrived here on a brief visit. According to government sources, he held a meeting with officials concerned and discussed the ongoing operation in different areas of Kohlu. Later, he visited the CMH Quetta where he inquired after the health of Inspector General Frontier Corps Major General Shujaat Zamir Dar and DIG Brigadier Saleem Nawaz who were injured three days ago when their helicopter had come under machine-gun attack in Kohlu area. The minister left for Islamabad in the afternoon.
Leaders of the Baloch Alliance announced here on Monday that a ‘black day’ would be observed in the province on Wednesday in protest against the military operation. An all-parties conference to be held on the same day would determine the future course of action, they said at a press conference.
They said that Balochistan was a political issue and problem could be resolved politically because military operations undertaken in 1948, 1958, 1965 and 1973 had failed because of the “brave resistance by the Baloch masses”.
Habib Jalib Baloch (BNP-Mengal), Agha Shahid Hasan Bugti (JWP) and Dr Ishaq Baloch of National Party declared that Baloch people would not compromise on national rights and would never surrender.
They asserted that during the past two days, planes, helicopter gunships, artillery and other sophisticated weapons had been used by the security forces in Tali, Jandran, Bambhoor, and Kohlu areas in which innocent people had been killed and wounded.
They strongly condemned the use of planes and helicopters and said that the military operation had been planned beforehand and the visit of President Musharraf to Kohlu and the firing of rockets during the visit was part of a plan to pave way for launching the army action in the area.
They said that while the government had launched a full-scale military operation in the Marri area it was reinforcing troops in Dera Bugti and besieged the fort of Nawab Bugti.
Alliance leaders appealed to the International community and human rights organizations, political groups and nationalist parties to raise their voice against the ‘excesses and oppression’ of the security forces in Balochistan.
They said the situation in Dera Bugti was tense and the security forces had established checkposts on the Sui-Dera Bugti road.
They said that on Wednesday, the alliance would hold protest rallies outside press clubs in Quetta and Karachi.
posted by India News Watch at 5:30 AM
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