Balochistan Timeline - Year 2004

A powerful bomb explosion was reported from the Almo Chowk area near the airport in Quetta. Separately, a rocket attack was reported from the Killi Khalil area. However, there were no casualties in these incidents.

A bomb exploded outside a bungalow in the Cantonment area. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported in the explosion.

Two low intensity bombs exploded in the Kolpur area. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported. The first bomb exploded in a garbage bin and the second, tied to an electricity pole, exploded 15 minutes later, said Riaz Khan, a police officer in Quetta.

One person was injured in a landmine explosion at Kohlu near Quetta. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) is reported to have claimed responsibility for the landmine explosion.

A bomb exploded at the Takeem Das street near Archer Road in Quetta. No casualties have been reported in the explosion. Another bomb planted near the blast site was reportedly defused by the bomb disposal squad of the police department.

Two bombs exploded in Quetta. A bomb in a garbage dump on Muno Jan Road went off at 6:00pm and a second bomb planted near a school exploded a little while later. No casualties have been reported in the incident.

The check posts of the Pakistani Rangers and two villages came under rocket attack on Sindh-Balochistan and Sindh-Punjab border areas. The reports stated that a group of armed persons attacked the check posts established to safeguard the Sui gas pipeline and two villages, Ghulam Hussain Mazari and Shah Dost Mazari. Fifteen rockets were reportedly fired out of which eight landed near the Rangers check posts, while seven landed near village Mazari. However, no casualties were reported in the incident.

A rocket was fired by unidentified persons at Killi Nasirabad in Quetta. Police personnel recovered the fuse and battery, believed to have been used in the firing of the rocket from Arbab Karam Khan Road.

Two successive bomb blasts were reported from two localities in Quetta. However, there were no casualties in these explosions. While the first explosion occurred near the officers' rest house of the Pakistan Railways at Zarghoon Road, the second blast was reported from Bashir Khan Chowk.

Unidentified assailants are reported to have hurled a hand grenade near the private residence of Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Muhammad Yousuf in Quetta. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

Two powerful bombs exploded at two different places in Quetta. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported. While the first explosion occurred at New Faqir Muhammad Road near Lal colony, the second was reported from Khair Muhammad Street, approximately 120 yards away from the site of the first explosion.

A powerful bomb exploded outside the boundary wall of daily Jang at Mir Khalilur Rehman Road in Quetta. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

A Frontier Corps (FC) check-post was targeted by unidentified terrorists who lobbed three rockets near it in the Kohlu area. However, no casualties were reported from the incident site.

March 2

At least 47 persons are killed and more than 150 wounded when a procession of the Shia sect is attacked by rival Sunni extremists at Liaquat Bazaar in Quetta, capital of Balochistan.

A powerful bomb exploded near a coal depot in the Quetta cantonment. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

A bomb explosion was reported from the Anscomb Road area near the Chief Minister's residence. However, no fatality or other damages was reported.

A powerful bomb exploded at Shahrah-e-Hali. However, there was no loss of life or injuries.

A powerful bomb exploded near the office of Pakistan State Oil office in Quetta. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast, according to police official Sher Nawaz Marwat.

A bomb exploded at the Quetta Railway Station without causing any damage. A locally-manufactured bomb exploded near the Reservation Section at the railway station.

Three persons, including one police personnel, were wounded during a bomb explosion within the premises of Balochistan High Court in Quetta. This was the second explosion in Quetta within as span of 10 hours as earlier a bomb exploded near the reservation office of Pakistan Railway.

Police in Quetta said it had arrested a key suspect in a bombing last week that killed three Chinese engineers in Gwadar. Mohammed Usman was arrested during a raid on May 8 from a house in Gwadar. "We believe he is the main suspect," said Gwadar police chief Malik Yasrab. He also said that 18 other people have also been detained thus far for questioning.

A Pentecostal preacher is suspected to have been abducted by an unidentified Islamist militant group, after he disappeared in Quetta. Wilson Fazal, a Pakistani Christian cleric at a local city church, had reportedly been receiving threatening letters from an unidentified Islamist group urging him to convert to Islam or face unspecified consequences. His son Jerry said the latest hand-written letter was delivered to their house five days ago asking Wilson to stop preaching Christianity. The letter was apparently sent by a group calling itself Mahaz-e-Jihad, or "Frontier of the Holy War."

One person was reportedly wounded as seven rockets hit the Gwadar airport. Police officials said in Quetta that they recovered six empty cases of rocket propelled grenades and 37 submachine guns and Kalashnikovs from west of the city airport. Seven rockets were fired at the residential area of the airport, disclosed Sher Jan Baloch, provincial minister for the Gwadar Development Authority. Meanwhile, an unidentified person informed the police and that the Baloch Liberation Army and Baloch Liberation Front had claimed responsibility for the attack. Earlier on May 3, three Chinese engineers working on a sea-port project were killed and 11 persons, including nine Chinese nationals, sustained injuries in a car bomb attack near Gwadar, about 500 kilometers west of Karachi, near the border with Iran.

May 24

At least 14 security force (SF) personnel and a civilian are wounded during a bomb explosion in the outskirts of Quetta.

June 6

Two persons are killed and two others sustain injuries during a landmine explosion in the Kohlu distinct.

A bomb blast was reported from the Arab Karam Khan Road area in Quetta. However, there was no loss of life or property during the explosion.

June 7

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is reported to have limited its operations, while other foreign non-governmental organisations closed their offices in Quetta despite assurances from the Home Department regarding provision of security to them.

June 19

Terminal of the Sui airport in the Dera Bugti district is destroyed after a bomb explosion. However, no loss of life was reported.

June 27

At least two police personnel and three tribesmen are killed during an encounter at Maiwand.

One bomb disposal squad personnel was reportedly wounded during two explosions in Quetta. Two bombs exploded on the Jan Muhammad Road within a span of 20 minutes. The first bomb, planted in a sewerage line, exploded on Abdul Hameed Street and another explosion occurred when the bomb disposal squad reached the scene, injuring one member of the squad.

July 2

Seven Frontier Constabulary personnel are wounded during a landmine blast at Dera Murad Jamali in the Sui area.

Police arrested four people in Quetta for suspected links to al Qaeda.

Unidentified terrorists are reported to have attacked a FC check post in the Mand area near Quetta with automatic rifles besides firing three rockets at the post. However, they escaped consequent to retaliatory firing by the FC personnel. No casualties were reported.

A boy was injured and some houses were reportedly damaged as a bomb planted in a drain exploded at Quetta.

August 1

Five soldiers and a civilian are killed when three unidentified terrorists attacked their vehicle at Khuzdar.

August 2

Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Muhammad Yousaf escapes unhurt when his cavalcade was attacked by unidentified terrorists near Surab, about 180 kilometers south west of Quetta. A constable and one of the attackers were reportedly killed and three persons sustained injuries during the incident.

Two bombs exploded in a high-security area near the Governor's House in Quetta. However, there were no casualties reported. "The explosions were meant to create panic and instill terror in the people celebrating Independence Day [August 14, today]," a security official told.

At least ten serial bomb blasts occurred in Quetta. However, no loss of life was reported. Police sources stated terrorists planted 10 homemade explosive devices in different localities of the city. The first bomb exploded at around 12:45 pm near in Killi Ibrahimzai and after five minutes another explosive device went off in the same locality. Three more successive powerful homemade bombs exploded in Patel Road, New Al-Gilani Road and Joint Road areas. A spokesman for the BLA claimed responsibility for the explosions in a telephonic call to the Quetta Press Club.

August 16

Five paramilitary troops are killed and 12 others sustain injuries in two attacks near the Sui gas fields.

The security officials raided the Jamia Matlaul Uloom seminary on Brewery Road and arrested a suspected Al Qaeda operative. Hafiz Hussain Ahmad, a Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) member of the National Assembly, runs the seminary. "Police arrested a former student of the Madrassa, who taught in a religious school at Kuchlak," Hafiz Munir Ahmed, elder son of the MMA leader said.

August 31

Four people, including three intelligence officers, are killed and 15 others sustained injuries during a bomb explosion at a sweet shop in Qalat, 140km south of Quetta.

September 1

The security agencies are reported to have arrested two foreigners, including a man believed to be a senior al Qaeda operative, during a raid in Quetta.

September 9

Two persons are killed and another sustained injuries during a bomb explosion at a state-run space centre in Somyani, 650 kilometers south of Quetta.

September 10

Unidentified gunmen are reported to have killed Atiqul Hasan Naqvi, a retired professor of the Balochistan University in Quetta, in what police said appeared to be a sectarian attack. Two assailants, riding a motorcycle, opened fire at Naqvi killing him immediately as he drove out of the Balochistan University. Naqvi, a prominent member of the Shia community, had been seriously wounded in an attack two years ago that killed his 25-year-old son, Arshad. "It appears to be sectarian as he was also targeted in the past," an unnamed police official said in Quetta.

September 11

Two people are killed and two others sustain injuries during a landmine explosion near the Sui Frontier Constabulary picket in the jurisdiction of Kashmore police station.

September 25

At least three police personnel and a suspected Lashkar-e-Jhangvi terrorist are killed when unidentified gunmen attacked a senior Pakistani police officer in Quetta.

A teenager was killed when a bomb planted on his bicycle exploded near the Ayub Stadium in Quetta. Nine civilians, including a woman, were also wounded in the blast, which occurred on the Jafar Khan Jamali Road.

Three women were wounded when unidentified attackers fired a rocket targeting the Ayub Stadium. The rocket was fired half an hour after a bomb exploded in Suraj Ganj Bazaar. The explosion damaged a vehicle but no loss of life was reported.

Six persons, including an army officer, were injured during a bomb explosion in the cantonment area. "It was a cycle bomb," Deputy Inspector General of Police, Pervez Rafi Bhatti, told, adding that the device had been planted in a bike with Russian-made timer.

A large areas in Barkhan and Kohlu districts plunged into darkness after a huge tower of the 132kv Rakhni-Barkhan transmission line was damaged by a rocket attack in the Badi area of Barkhan in Quetta. Saboteurs reportedly fired three rockets targeting the main Rakhni-Barkhan transmission line in the Shaheed Barkhan post near Badi.

Saeed Ahmed Notani, suspected to be involved in the May 3 bomb blast in Gwadar in which three Chinese workers were killed, surrendered to the local administration in Quetta. Earlier, an anti terrorism court had issued arrest warrants for Saeed Ahmed Notani and had declared him proclaimed offender.

November 3

Four people, including a woman, are injured in car bomb explosion behind the Chief Minister's House on the Pir Masoom Shah street.

Three people were injured when a bomb exploded in front of the Saryab police station. Senior Superintendent of Police Rahmatullah Niazi said that the bomb was made locally and it exploded under a truck that was in police custody.

Police arrested an alleged Chechen terrorist who had attacked police and other people with a hand-grenade after failing to rob a money-changer in the Qandahri bazaar. "The Chechen national came from Wana along with other companions," Balochistan IGP Chaudhary Yaqoob told. Initial investigations showed that the accused, identified as Abdul Ghafar, was a Chechen and along with other Chechens had escaped from South Waziristan and taken shelter in Quetta, after the military action in the tribal areas.

10 policemen were wounded when terrorists hurled two hand grenades at police teams during a crackdown launched by law-enforcement agencies against the accomplices of an arrested Chechen militant in Killi Paind Khan. Police launched the operation on information received from the Chechen militant Abdul Ghafar, who was arrested by police when he hurled a hand grenade at people at Mannan Chowk on November 29 after a failed robbery attempt.

December 1

The Balochistan Government imposes a ban on all kinds of political and religious processions in the province for three months with immediate effect. According to an official notification issued in Quetta, the ban would be effective from November 28 to February 28, 2005.

December 10

Eleven persons, including two army personnel, are killed and 26 others sustained injuries when a bomb attached to a bicycle exploded at Quetta.

14 persons were arrested for their alleged involvement in the bomb blast in Quetta a day earlier. 11 people died in the blast which occurred in the Meezan Chowk area. "Police arrested 14 suspects during raids in Quetta and other areas," Deputy Inspector-General Rafi Pervez Bhatti told. He rejected the claim of the BLA that it was responsible for the blast and said such an organization did not exist. Raids were also conducted in the Gwadar, Kalat, Khuzdar, Nushki, and Dera Murad Jamali areas of the province.

Two bombs reportedly exploded within a span of 30 minutes in a town near Quetta, capital of Balochistan province injuring one person. While the first bomb went off near a Government office in Naushki, approximately 200 kilometers west of Quetta, injuring a passer-by, the second exploded outside a facility housing paramilitary forces, said the town's police chief, Asif Gichki. No one has claimed responsibility for these blasts, which came three days after an explosion in Quetta, which killed 11 people. Meanwhile, President Pervez Musharraf is scheduled to arrive on December 15, today, for a two-day visit of Balochistan.

A bomb explosion was reported from the minister's block of the Civil Secretariat in Quetta. However, there were no casualties. Capital City Police Officer, Parvez Rafi Bhatti, said that two suspects had been arrested after the explosion.

A suspect in the December 10-bombing that killed 11 people in Quetta was arrested.

December 24

Unidentified people attack two vehicles carrying paramilitary forces in Turbat killing at least four personnel and injuring five more.

A FC soldier was wounded when unidentified people fired a rocket at an FC checkpoint on the Sariab Road. Police sources said the rocket was fired from five to six km away and hit a wall near the checkpoint. Capital City Police Officer, Pervez Rafi Bhatti, added that another explosion was heard from the same area at the same time, but there were no reports of any damage.

A bomb exploded on the Adalat Road area, but caused no damage to life or property.