Peace Like A River: Roundup of events in Balochistan

As before, these updates are from the South Asia Terrorism Portal.

May 3

One person was killed and two others sustained injuries when two landmines exploded in Dera Bugti and Chattar area of Nasirabad district of Balochistan province on May 2, according to Dawn. A police officer in Dera Murad Jamali said that a villager was killed when a bullock-cart hit the landmine. In another incident, two persons were wounded when a landmine exploded in the Dera Bugti area.

However, Jamhoori Watan Party chief Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti claimed that at least 19 security force personnel were killed and six others injured in a landmine blast in the Sarposh area of Dear Bugti district. The chief of the Bugti tribe said Frontier Corps suffered losses in the Sangsilla area where armed tribesmen targeted a camp of the security forces. No independent confirmation was available on his claim.
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A top Al Qaeda leader whose links stretch from Afghan terrorist training camps to extremist networks operating throughout Europe has been arrested in Pakistan, according to a US law-enforcement official. Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, a Syrian who also holds Spanish citizenship, was captured during a November 2005 operation in Quetta that left one person dead, said the American official, according to AP. Pakistani officials said on May 2 that Nasar has since been flown out of Pakistan to an unspecified location. The American official said Nasar, also known as Abu Musab al-Suri, may now be in US custody but did not specify where. Nasar had a $5 million US bounty on his head.

May 5

Security forces using helicopter gun-ships carried out an operation against insurgents in the Dera Bugti district of Balochistan province after four Frontier Corps personnel, including an officer, were injured in an attack on their vehicle on May 4, according to Dawn.

Meanwhile, The News has reported that insurgents fired a series of rockets at security forces’ check-posts besides targeting them with light arms on May 4. Rocket attacks were reported from Dera Bugti, Sangseela, Kandwani, Hernai and Goth Habib Rahi check posts. However, no loss of life or property was reported.

May 7

Gunmen riding on a motorcycle killed a former regional Taliban leader on May 6 in the Balochistan province, according to Daily Times. Mullah Samad Barakzai, who was head of the Department for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Helmand during the Taliban’s rule, was killed near a seminary in Quetta, said Qazi Abdul Wahid, an area police chief. Barakzai, who is also known as Maulvi Yar Muhammed, had become a supporter of President Hamid Karzai’s Government, Wahid said adding, “We have made no arrest, but it seems that he has been killed by Taliban”.

Meanwhile, a bomb blast was reported from a police station in Gwadar on May 5. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported, but the police station building and a vehicle were damaged.

May 8

At least three people were killed and seven others sustained injuries in four landmine explosions in different areas of Balochistan province on May 7, according to Dawn. A vehicle carrying Kalpar tribesmen from Sui to Dera Bugti hit a landmine in Gandoi area killing two people, Nawabuddin Bugti and Gul Mohammad Bugti, and wounding three others. A man riding a camel was killed in another landmine explosion in the Arand area of Sibi district. Further, three police personnel were injured when their vehicle struck a landmine in the Chattar area of Nasirabad district. Separately, a bus carrying vegetables was blown up by another landmine in the same area.

Meanwhile, insurgents are reported to have fired rockets on Frontier Corps checkpoints in the Ghori Nullah area. Unconfirmed reports suggested that three soldiers were killed and five others injured in the attack. Clashes between security forces (SFs) and Bugti tribesmen were reported from different areas, including Sangsilla and Ghori Nullah.

Elsewhere in the province, SFs defused an anti-tank mine and another mine planted near Sui. They also claimed to have foiled an attempt to blow up a bridge near the Tariman area of Kahan.

May 10

Baloch insurgents are reported to have fired three missiles from Sui Neelakh mountain at security forces in the Sangsela, Chashma and Gory Nullah areas of Dera Bugti district in the Balochistan province on May 9. Further, the insurgents also fired seven rockets at the Pathar Nullah Check Post in Pir Koh. However, no loss of life or property was reported in these incidents.

May 12

Six police personnel of the Anti-Terrorist Force (ATF) were killed and 13 others sustained injuries in five powerful bomb explosions at the firing range of the Police Training College in Quetta, capital of Balochistan province on May 11, according to Dawn. The banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the blasts. “It is an act of terrorism and the perpetrators had used booby traps to trigger powerful blasts,” Inspector-General of Police Chaudhary Mohammad Yaqoob said. Two suspects had been taken into custody, he added. The five blasts occurred in quick succession soon after the ATF contingent had arrived at the firing range at around 8.15am.

Meanwhile, four Bugti tribesmen were killed and five others wounded in an armed clash between two factions of the Mandwani and Kalpar Bugtis in the Lanjo area of Dera Bugti district on May 11. According to officials, armed men belonging to the Mandwani Bugtis opened fire on a convoy of Kalpar tribesmen, which was on its way to Sui. The vehicle of the Kalpars overturned after running over a landmine, killing four people. Subsequently, the Kalpar Bugtis returned fire by taking positions in nearby mountains, injuring five Mandwani Bugtis. The exchange of fire lasted for more than three hours and the tribesmen also used heavy weapons, including rockets, against each other, according to Dawn.

In another incident, insurgents reportedly blew up a tower of the 132-KV Rakhni-Barkhan power transmission line on May 11, suspending supply of electricity to Barkhan, Kohlu and Mawand.

Elsewhere in the province, several rockets were fired at a Frontier Corps check-post in the Karmo-Wadh area of Kahan. A heavy exchange of fire was also reported between security forces and armed insurgents in the Narigaj area of Sibi district. However, no casualty was reported in both the incidents.

May 15

A Government official, identified as Naib Tehsildar Shahzada Khan Bugti, who was abducted by unidentified persons on May 13 along with two Levies force personnel was found dead on May 14 in the Dera Bugti district, according to Daily Times. The District Coordination Officer, Abdul Samad Lasi, said that Shahzada Khan Bugti was investigating a land ownership dispute between tribesmen loyal to Nawab Akbar Bugti and the pro-government Kalpar clan. Meanwhile, according to Agencies, Nawab Akbar Bugti has claimed that three Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel were killed and five injured in clashes with his supporters in Barboz.

Separately, unidentified men killed the Additional Sub-divisional Head of Dera Bugti, Liaquat Ali Cheema, in the Osta Muhammad area when he was on way to his house.

Elsewhere in the province, a bomb exploded in a drain in front of a shop at Rakhni, injuring one person.

May 16

Three pylons of a 132kv double-circuit power transmission line were blown up in the Mainghundi area, some 25 kilometers from Quetta, capital of Balochistan province, on May 15, according to Dawn. Power supply was reportedly suspended to various areas of the Mustang district and the Sariab grid station after the incident.

Elsewhere in the province, a heavy exchange of fire between security forces and armed insurgents was reported from the Sangsilla area of Dera Bugti district. Sources said insurgents fired at least 19 rockets on Frontier Corps check-posts in the Chashma, Loti, Pir Koh and Sangsilla areas of Dera Bugti.

Finally, don't miss this informative post from the (GOB) Exile about the Durand Line, the current dividing line between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Here's an excerpt.

In 1839, the Afghan and British governments agreed to demark a 2,450-kilometer (1,519 miles) long border dividing British India and Afghanistan. The signatory of the document, known as The Durand Line Agreement, were His Highness, Amir Abdur Rahman Khan, ruler of Afghanistan, and Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, the foreign secretary of the British Indian government.

Since British India ceased to exist in 1947 with the independence of India, Pakistan, and princely States, it was assumed that the Durand Line Agreement will be automatically upheld by the International Court of Justice as a binding agreement under uti possidetis juris, i.e, binding bilateral agreements with or between colonial powers are "passed down" to successor independent states.