Pro-govt militia attacked in Dera Bugti, three dead

Tahir Shambani, Ghulam Sharif Shambani and Pir Bakhsh Shambani have been identified as those killed in the attack while Rezakh Shambani and Hafizullah Shambani sustained injuries. The victims belong to Shambani tribe.

Assistant Administrator Ali Mohammad says the attack occurred early Sunday in the Dasht-e-Goran area of Baluchistan. The southwestern province is home to a low-level separatist movement and Islamic extremist groups.

Mohammad says the 2,000-strong militia was formed a few years ago to help security forces, and that its posts have been targeted in the past by Baluch separatists.No one has claimed responsibility for the latest attack.

Senator and former home minister Sarfaraz Bugti condemned the attack and demanded that the attackers be apprehended.

In 2014, a similar incident took place in Dera Bugti when two pro-government militia leaders’ home came under attack, leading to the death eight of a family.

The victims included women and children and the two brothers, who helped to lead a local pro-government militia in the region, police had said at the time.

“Ghazi Khan Marhata Bugti and his brother Imam Bakhsh were commanders of Bugti Peace Force, and their entire family were killed in the attack,” provincial Home Secretary Asad Gilani had said.