QUETTA, October 25: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Raheel Sharif on Tuesday reached Quetta, a day after terrorists stormed a police training college in the provincial capital in one of the deadliest militants attacks this year.
Three heavily-armed militants wearing suicide vests stormed a police academy in Quetta, killing at least 59 people and wounding dozens more.
During a high-level security meeting in Quetta, the prime minister directed all law enforcement agencies in the province to take strict action against banned outfits, sources privy to the meeting told
DawnNews.
The PM called for better inter-agency coordination between police, Frontier Corps and intelligence agencies, they said.
The matter of suspected Afghan and Indian intervention in Balochistan may also be taken up at a diplomatic level in the Foreign Office, the sources added.
Various aspects of the deadly attack, and the prevailing law and order situation in Quetta were also discussed during the meeting, Radio Pakistan reported.
Among the meeting’s attendees were COAS Gen Raheel, Balochistan Governor Muhammad Khan Achakzai, Balochistan Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar. CM Zehri announced a three-day mourning period in the province to mourn those who lost their lives in the attack. Earlier, the prime minister and army chief, accompanied by Commander Southern Command Lt General Aamir Riaz, National Security Adviser Lt Gen (R) Nasser Janjua, and the interior minister, visited Civil Hospital to meet those injured in the attack, Radio Pakistan reported.
The army chief also visited the police training academy where he reviewed the security situation and was briefed on the attack by officials. Gen Raheel met police officials, and army and Frontier Corps troops who carried out the operation last night to clear the area and eliminate the attackers.
The COAS appreciated the morale, courage and determination of security forces personnel.-Agencies
