3 cops among 7 shot dead in Balochistan

QUETTA - At least seven people including three police officials were shot dead in different areas of Balochistan on Sunday. Three police officials, including a station house officer, were gunned down in Sariab area of the provincial capital on Sunday. As per reports, SHO Manzoor Tareen of the Sariab Police Station was going to his house in a police mobile van for Iftar when unidentified gunmen, riding a motorbike, opened fire on the vehicle near Killi Shahnawaz area. As a result of the firing, the SHO died instantly while two constables, who were accompanying him, succumbed to their injuries on their way to a hospital. They were identified as Usman and driver Altaf. Officials of police and other law enforcement agencies rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area. The dead bodies were shifted to the Quetta Civil Hospital for autopsy. A police official said that the incident was being investigated, adding that it would be premature to comment that whether these were targeted killings. Police handed over the bodies to the heirs after completing necessary legal formalities. No group claimed responsibility for the killings until the filing of this report. Meanwhile, four people, including a resident of Punjab, were killed and another wounded in two separate incidents of firing in Hub and Mand areas of Balochistan on Sunday. Unidentified armed men opened indiscriminate fires at a wedding on Sakran Road of Hub, killing brides uncle Manzoor Ahmed and another Abdul Samad on the spot and injuring her. Police shifted the deceased and wounded to hospital. However, motive behind the killing is to be ascertained yet. In another incident, unknown motorcyclists shot dead two people at Mand in Kech. According to sources, one victim was identified as Azhar Iqbal, a resident of Punjab, while the identity of second could not be ascertained. Local administration shifted the bodies to hospital. No group clamed responsibility for the killing.

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