Daily Times

A car bomb targeted a Baloch insurgent leader in Afghanistan’s Kandahar. Sources said a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device exploded in Aino Mina area of Kandahar near the house of Laghari Bugti.

Sources said that Legahri Bugti along with three others was killed, while 12 Baloch separatists were seriously injured and were shifted to Shifa Khana Hospital in Aino Mina area.

Meanwhile, BBC Pashto quoted the Kandahar police chief Tadin Khan as saying that 10 members of the family were injured in the attack. He claimed the car bomb exploded outside the house of a former Afghan intelligence official. He also denied presence of the Baloch insurgents in the area. The BBC, however; reported that a Baloch separatist leader Sher Muhammad Bugti confirmed that the bomb targeted the house of a senior Pakistani Baloch leader Shah Wali Bugti.

He said Pakistani Baloch separatists were not safe in Kandahar and they had come under attack in three places over the past few months. He confirmed that 10 persons of a family were injured in the Thursday’s attack.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

“There is no security for Balochs there (Kandahar) and they live among Afghans. We want the Afghan government to ensure safety of Balochs,” Sher Bugti was quoted as saying.

BBC reported that nearly 15,000 Balochs were living in southern parts of Afghanistan. These Balochs had crossed the border after the operations in 2006. They are living in a very bad condition, according to the report.

In December last year, a suicide bomber struck a compound of Baloch insurgents in same area of Kandahar, killing five and injuring several other militants. The bomber attacked the residence of Baloch Liberation Army’s commander and head of Majeed Brigade Aslam Achu, killing him.

Officials had stated that Aslam Achu was mastermind of the attacks on a Chinese consulate in Karachi and a bus carrying Chinese in Dalbadin area of Balochistan.

The latest attack was fourth on Baloch insurgents in Kandahar this year. A bomb attack on a Baloch family in same area in June this year had killed four persons.