Pakistan: Gunmen kill four police officers in Quetta July 13

Event

Unidentified gunmen killed Superintendent of Police Mubarak Shah and three police guards in Quetta on Thursday, July 13. Authorities claim the attack was carried out by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban. The attack has also been claimed by the Islamic State (IS) via its online news outlet, Amaq.

Context

The Quetta region of Balochistan province, located in north-central Pakistan, has experienced high levels of violence in recent months and years due to its position along a major arms smuggling route and proximity to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Car bombs, suicide bombings, and armed attacks are common, and often target the Balochistan Frontier Corps, local police forces, and lawyers. Militants killed 13 people in Quetta by a suicide car bomb on June 23. Additionally, three policemen were killed by gunmen in a June 11 attack on a security checkpoint on Quetta's main thoroughfare, Saryab Road. The Al-Alami faction of the Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) claimed responsibility.

Security forces prevented a major terror attack in Parachinar on May 12 when border guards fired at a vehicle they identified as a potential threat attempting to enter Pakistan from Afghanistan. The shots fired at the vehicle detonated explosives hidden inside it. On March 31, 23 people were killed after a car bomb detonated in the town around midday. Previously, 25 people died and 87 were wounded when a bomb went off during peak business hours at the crowded vegetable market on January 21.

Advice

Due to a high threat from terrorism, as well as kidnapping and sectarian violence, throughout Pakistan, some Western governments advise their citizens against nonessential travel to the country, where foreign nationals, in particular Westerners, may be directly targeted.