College professor, lady constable shot dead in Balochistan

QUETTA: A college lecturer and a female police constable were killed and two children were injured in separate armed attacks in Balochistan’s Noshki and Turbat districts on Saturday, police said.

According to police, Professor Ghamkhwar Hayat, a lecturer of Brahui at a degree college, poet, and literary scholar, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in the Killi Mengal area of Noshki.

Police said the attackers fled the scene after the firing, while the victim’s body was shifted to Teaching Hospital Noshki. Authorities have launched a search operation to trace the suspects.

In a separate incident in Turbat’s Absar area, unidentified motorcycle-riding assailants opened fire on a family travelling on a motorcycle, killing female police constable Shakeela.

Police said more than 30 bullets were fired during the attack. Shakeela sustained five bullet wounds and died on the spot, while her husband and two children were injured. A six-month-old child remained unharmed.

According to officials, the constable was travelling to the market with her husband and children at the time of the attack.

The Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Makran said the injured were shifted to hospital and are now out of danger.

Initial investigations suggest the incident was a targeted killing. Police sources said the victim and her husband had reportedly been receiving threats prior to the attack.

Shakeela had joined the police force in 2015 and belonged to Turbat’s Shehrak area.

Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti strongly condemned both incidents, calling the attacks “cowardly acts of terrorism.”

He said the killing of Lady Constable Shakeela was an attack on the peace of Balochistan and added that terrorists were attempting to spread fear by targeting women, teachers, and children.

The chief minister vowed that anti-state elements involved in such attacks would be brought to justice, adding that those targeting innocent civilians deserve no leniency.

He further stated that targeting teachers for malicious motives was an attack on Balochistan’s academic and literary identity, and pledged action against those “hostile to knowledge and awareness.”