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Quetta, Pakistan: Banned outfit Lashker-e-Jhangvi attacked Quetta Police Training Center, said Major General Sher Afgan, chief of the paramilitary Frontier Corps here on Tuesday.
Six gunmen killed at least 61 police officials under training when they attacked Police Training Centre and its hostel at Saryab Road in Quetta.
Provincial government of Balochistan has announced 3-days mourning while Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif also reached Quetta.
“Civil and Military leadership of Pakistan understand that war against terrorism is yet to be won but such attack compelled them to review the working of Intelligence networking because authorities had no information thgat such attack could happen in Quetta– a city already bleeding since 6 years due to massacre of Hazara Community”, said a former police official in Quetta while talking to Dispatch News Desk (DND) news agency.
Civil and military leadership consider that terrorist attacks in Quetta are being conducted to sabotage the ongoing China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
Lashker-e-Jhangvi is linked with Indian intelligence agency RAW and is being operated from Afghanistan.
Major General Sher Afgan, chief of the paramilitary Frontier Corps confirmed that 700 police recruits were inside the hostel when attack started.
Lashker-e-Jhangvi also attacked Cricket team of Sri Lanka in Lahore and killed over 7 persons including policemen but Cricket team was unhurt. This incident took in March 2009. Punjab based LeJ was considered a radical outfit having cordial relations with provincial government of Punjab till it attacked Sri Lankan team.
Military establishment of Pakistan came to know that Punjab based radical group LeJ was linked with RAW and it attacked Sri Lankan team
Lashker-e-Jhangvi did the similar attack on a hostel of police recruits in Lahore on July 13, 2012 and killed nine recruits.
Alleged mastermind of this attack Qari Ajmal was killed eastern Afghanistan on October 9, 2016. This attack in Quetta can be a reaction from LeJ remaining leadership living in Afghanistan.
It may be mentioned top LeJ leadership was killed including Lashkar-i-Jhangvi chief Malik Ishaq and his two sons in Muzaffargarh in a police encounter on Jul 29, 2015.
Orders of police encounter were reportedly given by the than Punjab home minister Shuja Khanzada who was killed in a suicide bombing by LeJ just after 19 days on Aug 17, 2015.
Pakistan arrested RAW agent and serving official of Indian Army Yadev from Baluchistan this year who shared information how RAW has been working to conduct terrorism in Pakistan from Karachi to tribal areas of Pakistan. However, Indian government denied such allegations.
Meanwhile, police sources claimed that only three attackers were involved who entered the Centre at 9.30 pm and sprayed bullets everywhere and majority of police recruits managed to ran away from back side wall but over 300 recruits came under attack and over 150 were critical injured.
Hospital sources confirmed 61 police recruits killed and majority of them belong to Hazara community that is the prime target of LeJ in Baluchistan since last 5 years. Purist Islamist LeJ considered Hazara community infidels and had been killed over 600 Hazara community people only in Baluchistan.
Chief of Pakistan Army Gen. Raheel Sharif flew from Rawalpindi to Quetta and visited Police Training School and its hostel where he was briefed about the action taken by forces to eliminate terrorists.
