Balochistan: Timeline (Terrorist Activities) -2008

A man was killed and three security force personnel and a civilian sustained injuries when a landmine exploded in the Chamalang and Bakhtairabad areas on January 1, Dawn reported. Sources said that a truck loaded with coal was on its way to Loralai when it struck a landmine in Chamalang area, killing the driver and injuring another person. The second blast occurred in the Bakhtairabad area after a vehicle of the Frontier Corps hit a landmine, injuring three soldiers. Read less...

On the same day, rockets were fired on a security forces’ checkpoint in Kohlu district’s Kahan area and power supply was suspended in several areas of Hub after a pylon of a high-power transmission line was blown up. Read less...

Five people were wounded in a bomb attack on a bus stop in the industrial town of Hub on January 3-evening. According to police, a bicycle fitted with explosives and parked at the bus stop on the main Quetta-Karachi national highway exploded when a police van reached the location. Read less...

Two suspected terrorists were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces (SFs) in the Kan-Mehtarzai area of Muslim Bagh, some 160km north of provincial capital Quetta, on January 3, according to Dawn. Sources said the encounter ensued after the SF personnel signaled a vehicle going towards Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP to stop, but the suspects attempted to speed away. "They were religious extremists," an unnamed security official said, adding that they might be suicide bombers. Read less...

Two personnel of the Sindh Rangers were injured when a landmine exploded in the Fat Feeder area of Sui on January 4, according to Dawn. According to sources, the landmine was planted to blow up a vehicle of the Rangers, but it exploded after the vehicle had passed. Read less...

One Frontier Corps soldier died and two other sustained injuries when unidentified miscreants ambushed them in the Spinny Road area of Quetta, capital of Balochistan, on January 5-night, according to Frontier Post. Read less...

Two persons died and 11 others, including six security force personnel, were injured on January 7 in two separate landmine explosions in Balochistan, Daily Times reported. Raz Mohammad and Tehlel Khan, employed at a coal mine in the Bolan district, were killed and five persons wounded when one of the men stepped on a landmine as they were returning home. Six security force personnel were injured in a second landmine explosion in Sibi district when their vehicle hit a landmine. No group has claimed responsibility for either of the blasts. Read less...

One person was killed and two others sustained injuries in a landmine explosion in the coalmining area of Marget near Mach on January 9, according to Dawn. Read less...

According to Dawn, six people were injured on January 10-evening after they tried to prevent an attack on a barber’s shop in the Essa Nagri area of Quetta, capital of Balochistan province. According to police, a group of people tried to capture the assailant but he attacked with a hand-grenade and opened fire, injuring six of them. The man later escaped in the ensuing confusion. Read less...

Two persons were injured when an unidentified man lobbed a grenade into a bakery in Mastung while, in a separate incident, insurgents blew up a railway tack linking the provincial capital Quetta with Iran on January 13, according to Dawn. Read less...

A bomb blast occurred in the industrial town of Hub on January 14-night, according to Associated Press of Pakistan. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported. Read less...

He said during a press conference in the provincial capital Quetta that terrorism and subversive activities increased in Balochistan by 19 per cent during 2007. About 186 people were killed and 445 injured in 540 incidents of terrorism and sabotage. He said that police had recovered 1,855 kilograms of drugs, over 1,000 weapons and 18 kilograms of explosives during the year. Read less...

The Balochistan Inspector General of Police, Saud Gohar, said that security agencies have arrested three suspected terrorists in Nushki for their alleged involvement in the killing of security force personnel and in subversive activities, Dawn reported. Read less...

A vehicle of the security forces was damaged in a landmine explosion in the Sangsilla area of the Dera Bugti district on January 16, according to Dawn. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported. Read less...

Security officials have indicated that the LeJ orchestrated the January 17 suicide attack on an imambargah in Peshawar, capital of the NWFP, The Post reported. "Use of a gun and then a suicide blast is signature method of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi," they said on January 18. "The bomber first fired some shots and then blew himself up. The modus operandi is the hallmark of Lashkar militants and it shows they have plans to stoke up sectarian hatred," a senior security official said. The unnamed officials said the LeJ had forged close ties with tribal warlord Baitullah Mehsud. As reported earlier, 12 persons were killed and 25 others wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the crowded Mirza Qasim Baig Imambargah in the Mohalla Janghi area. Read less...

Two Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militants escaped from a sub-jail located inside the headquarters of the Anti-Terrorist Force (ATF) in the Quetta cantonment area on January 18. Usman Saifullah and Shafiqur Rehman were tried by an Anti-Terrorism Court in several cases of sectarian killings, a senior police officer said. The court had sentenced Usman to death for sectarian attacks and Shafiq to life imprisonment in another case. Police said Usman had masterminded numerous sectarian killings and attacks on imambargah (congregation hall for Shia rituals) in Quetta and he had been arrested from Karachi in June 2006. Shafiq was arrested from Mastung in Balochistan in 2007. After the escape, police detained 13 jail and ATF personnel who had been on duty. Read less...

Three oil tankers and a container carrying fuel and goods for the allied forces in southern Afghanistan were blown up late on January 20-night in the border town of Chaman and the Sranan area of Qila Abdullah district. Police managed to save another oil tanker, defusing a bomb strapped to it, sources said. Read less...

A soldier was killed and six others sustained injuries in two landmine explosions in the Pat Denari area and Pir Koh on the Sindh-Balochistan border on January 21, according to Dawn. Sources said a convoy of the Sindh Rangers was passing through Pat Denari when one of the mines exploded, injuring three soldiers. The second mine exploded near the Pir Koh gas field in which a Frontier Corps (FC) vehicle was destroyed. Four FC personnel were injured in the incident. Read less...

The Interior Ministry has warned the provinces that 13 suicide bombers have entered Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore from the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and may carry out attacks in these cities, Daily Times reported. According to Geo News, the ministry revealed in a letter written to the provinces and security agencies that terrorists have formed a new group by the name of Al-Quds Army and that 13 of its newly trained suicide bombers have entered major cities for subversive activities. The ministry has also warned security agencies and the provinces that two extremists of Maulana Fazlullah’s Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) have entered Sindh and Balochistan. Read less...

A gas pipeline was blown up by unidentified persons in Sui, disrupting gas supply to parts of the Punjab and Sindh. Four suspects were arrested after the explosion and shifted them to an unknown place for interrogation. Read less...

A landmine blast at Dera Bugti killed a trooper and injured two others on January 25 police said, according to Daily Times. Police said a vehicle of the security forces could have hit the landmine during patrolling. One trooper, Shafi Muhammad, was killed and two others, Shahid and Muhammad, were injured. Read less...

Also on January 25, a blast in Hub destroyed an electricity pylon causing power outage in the city and surrounding areas. Unidentified miscreants had strapped explosive material to an electricity pole, report added. Read less...

Separately in Baloch Colony, some unidentified miscreants blew up the main gas pipeline, which caused the termination of gas supply to Punjab and Sindh. The explosion damaged three feet of the pipeline. Read less...

A child was killed while two security force personnel and a civilian were wounded on January 29 when landmines exploded in the Pirkoh and Kahan areas of Dera Bugti and Kohlu districts, Dawn reported. Read less...

Insurgents blew up four power pylons due to which supply of electricity to Sui and Dera Bugti has been suspended. According to The Post, unidentified miscreants blew up a high transmission line of 33 KV in the area of Mazar Goth. Read less...

Six people sustained injuries when a bomb strapped to a bicycle exploded in Quetta, capital of Balochistan, on January 31, according to Dawn. The cycle was parked outside the offices of the District Coordination Office and Anti-Terrorist Court on the Anscomb Road. Read less...

Two power pylons were blown up in the Maiwant area of Kohlu district, suspending power supply to the adjoining areas. Read less...