BALOCHISTAN : Govt Spokesman Razaak Bugti killed

Source: Pak Tribune

QUETTA: Spokesman of Balochistan Government Razaak Bugti on Friday was killed in unknown firing in Quetta.

According to details, Razaak Bugti was coming back towards his office after participating in a program of PTV, when suddenly unknown attackers opened fired at his vehicle in Zarghon Road resulting in his death on the spot.

It is pertinent to mention that Razaak Bugti was also a Media Consultant of Chief Minister Punjab Balochistan Jam Muhammad Yousaf.

It has been told that he played a pivotal role in the Media after the death of Nawab Akbar Bugti and was continuously getting death threats, however he sticked to his stance and fulfilled his responsibilities amicably.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Islamabad - Assailants shot dead the top government spokesman in Pakistan's south-west Balochistan province on Friday, police said. Raziq Bugti, who represented the Balochistan government, was ambushed in the provincial capital Quetta when he was travelling without any police guard, a duty officer told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

An unknown number of attackers opened indiscriminate fire on Bugti's vehicle, killing the official on the spot.

Bugti was himself at the wheel of his private jeep with no one in the vehicle with him.

The incident took place three days after a top militant commander, Abdullah Mehsud, blew himself up in the town of Zhob, located some 300 kilometres north-east of Quetta, when security forces cornered him in a house of a senior leader belonging to a religious party.

Prior to this attack that targeted a senior government official, Islamic militants have been hitting security forces and police in the country north-west region in the aftermath of a bloody military operation against a pro-Taliban mosque in the capital Islamabad that killed 75 fighters.

Militant group claims responsibility

Islamabad, July 27: Pakistan's banned militant group Baluch Liberation Army (BLA) Friday claimed responsibility for killing Balochistan provincial government spokesman Raziq Bugti, a private TV channel reported.

Biberg Baloch, self-claimed spokesman of BLA, has called a press club in Quetta to make the claim, according to Dawn News.

Raziq Bugti was shot dead Friday afternoon by gunmen in an ambush in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan, local TV channels reported.

Raziq Bugti, 55, was alone and driving his vehicle and no security guard was with him when assailants opened fire at the vehicle, the private Geo TV channel reported.

Attacks on government installations or public assets have been reported frequently in the remote southwest region where anti-government tribal people have been campaigning for more autonomy and bigger royalties share from the local natural resources.

Since early July, Pakistan has seen a series of attacks across the country, most of which targeted security forces and were considered to be religious extremists' backlash from the government operation against Islamabad-based hard-line Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque.

Abdullah Mahsud, a militant leader mostly based in northwestern Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal region, blew himself up July 24 to avoid arrest when law enforcement officials raided a house in Balochistan.

--- IANS