Quetta, July 29 — A police officer was killed and another injured after a gun battle broke out between armed men and police in Pakistan's Balochistan province's Barkhan district, local media reported on Wednesday.
According to Balochistan government's senior official, DSP Mureed Bugti was on patrol duty when gunmen opened fire on his vehicle and tried to abduct him, and a police constable, Pakistan's daily Dawn reported.
According to officials, police reached the area after they received the information about the incident and began chasing armed assailants. A gun battle erupted between armed men and police personnel, resulting in the killing of DSP Bugti and injuring a police constable. Barkhan SP Abdul Haq said that security personnel began a search operation to find the gunmen.
The incident occurred amid a rise in attacks targeting law enforcement personnel in Pakistan, especially in the border provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Meanwhile, seven labourers and four employees of a private construction firm working on development projects in Balochistan were abducted in Kech and Khuzdar.
According to officials, armed assailants kidnapped seven labourers in Kech district. An aide to the home department, Babar Yousafzai, said one of the hostages was killed by abductors.
In another incident, gunmen abducted four employees of a construction firm in Khuzdar district, Dawn reported.
Earlier this month, at least two policemen were killed and 26 people, including 22 police personnel, were injured after armed assailants carried out attacks in Bannu and Lower Dir districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Six police personnel and four people were injured after armed assailants attacked the Miryab police station using an explosives-laden vehicle. District Police Officer Captain (retd) Muhammad Furqan Bilal said that the armed assailants tried to move an explosives-laden vehicle into the police station, triggering an explosion and exchange of fire with security personnel.
Before the attack, the armed assailants targeted a previously damaged bridge on the road leading to the police station to stop the arrival of police personnel and rescue teams, The Express Tribune reported, citing sources.
The banned outfit Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that a vehicle carrying two-and-a-half tonnes of explosives had been driven into the police station.