Unknown gunmen have attacked an oil tanker carrying supplies to the airport in Turbat, the main town of Balochistan’s Kech district. The tanker was reportedly damaged in the firing but no casualties were reported.
The tanker was attacked on the main highway in Dannuk area of satellite town on Sunday night, when it was heading towards the airport. After the attack, security and law enforcement forces arrived at the scene to gather evidence.
According to police, unidentified men opened gunfire at a 22-wheeler tanker of the Pakistan State Oil (PSO), when the tanker was on its way to supply fuel for PIA airlines.
PSO is a Pakistani state-owned largest fuel marketing company – It has a network of 3,689 petroleum filling stations, out of which 3500 outlets serve the public retail sector and 189 outlets serve wholesale bulk customers.
On Monday, a “pro-independence” armed group known as Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) claimed responsibility for the attack.
Earlier on Sunday, the BLF had claimed responsibility for a sniper attack on a Pakistani army checkpost in Balochistan’s Awaran district.
In a press release, BLF’s spokesman Major Gwahram Baloch said: “On Wednesday evening, January 17, a military official was shot dead by BLF sniper at a Pakistani army post in Bazdad Kali area of Awaran district.”
Several Baloch armed groups are active in the region against the Pakistani state, for the “independence” of resource rich region of Balochistan. They believe that private and government companies in the region are exploiting their natural wealth with the consent of indigenous Baloch people. Nationalists also claim that the state is plundering their land through multiple ongoing projects in Balochistan, but Baloch people deprived of basic facilities of life.