A bomb blast targeting his car in Pakistan’s rebel-held Balochistan province on Friday killed three people, including a senior journalist, and injured eight others, police said.
A remote-controlled roadside bomb was planted near Chomrok Chowk on the outskirts of Khuzdar town and was detonated when Maulana Siddique Mengal, a senior journalist and president of the Khuzdar Press Club, arrived at the scene, a senior police official said. Ta. Said.
“Maulana Mengal and two other passersby were killed in the explosion, while eight others were injured and taken to hospital,” he said.
Mengal was also a local councilor of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) party. He also wrote for the local newspaper ‘Watan’. The attack on a senior journalist occurred on a day when World Press Freedom Day was being celebrated.
Police officials said it was too early to tell whether Mengal was targeted for his media activities or for his work as head of the JUI-F’s regional office.
Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti strongly condemned the attack and directed the Inspector General of Police to arrest the perpetrators.
The Balochistan Union of Journalists (BUJ) also held a demonstration against Mengal’s murder and demanded the provincial government to arrest the culprits at the earliest.
Balochistan has witnessed a series of terrorist activities in recent years.
Most recently, at least one person was killed and 20 others injured in two mine explosions near Taikedar Nadi in Dukhi district, Balochistan on Thursday.
The first explosion occurred when a truck hit a mine, followed by a second explosion as people gathered at the scene.
Two police personnel, including a DSP and an SHO, were injured when unidentified assailants opened fire in Kali Talata area of Pishin district on Friday.
In a similar incident in the Tampu area of the same district, two workers were killed by armed men.
In 2023, Pakistan was ranked 150th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a non-profit organization that defends and promotes freedom of information.
At least 53 journalists were killed in the country between 2012 and 2022, according to a report by Freedom Network, an independent national media watchdog. Only two cases resulted in convictions.
