- Motivation, morale and dedication par excellence
Colonel Sohail Abid shaheed, of the army’s military intelligence, probably wanted to leave nothing to chance. On Wednesday, receiving reports of a high value target and other terrorists holed out in Killi Almas, a Quetta city outskirt, he decided to direct the dangerous and uncertain operation on the ground himself, embracing martyrdom during an intense exchange of gunfire, but his supreme sacrifice translates into salvation of hundreds of innocent citizens, mostly belonging to the Shia Hazara community. For terrorist Salman Badeni, killed in the encounter along with two suicide bomber accomplices, was the outlawed Lashkar-e- Jhangvi’s (LeJ) Balochistan chief, carrying a bounty of Rs2 million, and responsible for sectarian murders of over a hundred Hazara and police personnel in previous deadly attacks. One wounded militant was captured, which should provide a treasure-trove of information about the groups’ operational and organisational format, and prove of immense help in future intelligence-based operations. Of the army’s assault force in Wednesday’s skirmish, four soldiers were also injured, two critically, one of whom unfortunately succumbed later.
The cutting of the head of the Baloch LEJ snake brought about an audacious but failed revenge attack on Thursday night, when five terrorists wearing suicide vests and lobbing hand grenades attempted to storm the Frontier Corps Madadgar compound in Quetta at crowded ‘Taraweeh’ prayers’, in which all the ‘avengers’ were fortunately timely eliminated near the gate of the FC Centre, by swift and effectively response of the defenders, the latter also suffering eight wounded casualties, one critically. But a major catastrophe was surely averted in this incident despite the dampening fact that the attackers managed to penetrate a military camp located in a high-security area. Another worrisome point to ponder is that the two suicide bombers killed in Killi Almas and all five in FC Madadgar attack, were reportedly Afghan nationals, which demands minute tracing of their prior movements and especially links with refugee camps. The government, military and masses need to gear up unitedly and single-mindedly for a mighty, sustained final effort against the wolfish designs of LeJ, TTP, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and IS. The nation too must be grateful and prove worthy of the countless sacrifices made by its martyrs.
