At least seven people were killed and four others injured on Thursday in an incident of firing and a landmine explosion in Balochistan's Dera Bugti area.
Six people were killed and four others injured when unidentified assailants stormed a house in Dera Bugti's Toba Nokani area and opened indiscriminate fire, Levies sources said.
The armed men stormed into the home of a man identified as Gujjar, killing his two wives and three children, Levies sources said.
As the injured were being transferred to a hospital, their vehicle hit a landmine. One person was killed in the ensuing explosion, Levies sources added.
The remaining injured received medical attention at a hospital, the sources added.
Shortly after the explosion, Levies and Frontier Corps personnel reached the site and began investigating the incident. Minister for States and Frontier Regions Lt. General (Retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch Wednesday said that twenty-two incidents of landmines explosions had occurred in South Waziristan Agency since start of repatriation of Temporary Dislocated Persons.
To a question of MNA Muhammad Jamal ud Din, Balouch told the National Assembly that 14 people had been killed and 20 others sustained injuries in the said incidents.
He said that two injured had so far been given compensation by the government. To another question about steps being taken by the government to clear the landmines, the minister said that de-mining activities were being undertaken by Pak Army at recently opened and de-notified areas of South Waziristan Agency.
He said army as well as political administration have conveyed precautionary instructions to local people to avoid untoward incidents in the future. Baloch said that several noticed had also been issued by the Pak Army for general public till completion of de-mining activities.
To a query of lawmaker Aisha Syed regarding details of ongoing development projects in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Abdul Qadir Baloch said the development budget for FATA Annual Development Programme is being reflected in the PSDP each year as “block allocation”.
These funds are further distributed among seven tribal agencies and six FRs as per formula approved by the Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said that in 2013-14 Rs14919.370 million budget was released for total of 1,000 schemes. In 2016-17, Rs17,912 million budget for 759 schemes, in 2017-18, Rs21266 million budget released for 709 schemes, he added.
He said that total funds allocated for establishment of FATA University by the HEC through CDWP/PSDP approved project were Rs1592.733 million, out of which Rs335 million had been released and a sum of Rs84.957 million had been expended during 2015-16 and 2016-17.
