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Six Pakistani police officers are shot dead protecting Spanis
Adventurer Javier Colorado is treated for bullet wound after trying to cycle through one of Pakistan's most dangerous areas
Gunmen shot dead six guards protecting a Spanish cyclist on Wednesday in a violent and remote area of western Pakistan where a bus bomb killed 24 Shi'iteShia pilgrims a day earlier, police said.
The cyclist, who suffered minor wounds, had crossed into Pakistan's western province of Baluchistan from Iran, they said. Six guards were wounded.
Police said they did not know why he was cycling through such a dangerous area. He was assigned the escort by security forces because the province is plagued by kidnappers, Taliban militants, a violent separatist insurgency, sectarian killers, paramilitary death squads and drug traffickers.
Two young Czech women taking the same route by bus were kidnapped in March and are still being held.
The cyclist and his guards were travelling through Mastung district when gunmen attacked. "Six of our security men have been killed trying to save the Spanish cyclist, who has suffered minor injuries," said Shafqat Anwar Shawani, the assistant police commissioner for Mastung district. One attacker was also killed, he said.
In the same district on Tuesday, a bomb targeting a bus killed 24 Shi'iteShia pilgrims, many of them women and children. Such sectarian attacks are increasingly common in Pakistan, where Shi'itesShias make up 20% percent of the 180 million people.
On Wednesday, hundreds of Shi'itesShias protested against the bus bombing by sitting in the road alongside the bodies of the dead in the provincial capital of Quetta.
The community held similar protests demanding protection after bombings last year in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, killed aroundabout 200 people, mostly Shi'itesShias, last year. (Reporting by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Six police officers in Pakistan have beenkilled while fending off a kidnap attempt against a Spanish adventurer attempting to cycle through one of the most dangerous parts of the country.
Javier Colorado, a 27-year-old adventurer on a round-the-world bicycle trip, was travelling with an escort of paramilitary police guards towards Quetta, the provincial capital of insurgency-racked Baluchistan province.
Local officials said six members of the Levies – as the tribal police force is known – had been killed in an exchange of fire while five more were injured.
"Armed men opened indiscriminate firing and wanted to kidnap the foreigner," a local Levies official said.
Colorado was also taken to hospital with a bullet wound, police said. The Spanish foreign ministry said he was released later on Wednesday.
He had been given a police guard after crossing on Tuesday from Iran into Baluchistan, one of Pakistan's most volatile provinces – the focus of attacks by separatist rebels and some of the worst sectarian violence in Pakistan as well as being home to many Taliban militants who use it as a base for attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan.
A foreign tourist would be a valuable prize for any of those groups, as well as for bandits simply motivated by the prospect of a large ransom.
Pakistanis reacted with astonishment that a foreigner was travelling through the area, not least as the attempted kidnapping took place in Mastung, where a bomb attack on a bus carrying Shia pilgrims from Iran had killed 24 people the previous day. The incident had stopped Colorado travelling on towards Quetta on Tuesday.
A message on Colorado's Facebook page posted by relatives said his family "would like to give our appreciation for the attention given by the Spanish consulate in Pakistan".
It suggested he would give the rest of Pakistan a miss.
"We received a call from the embassy that Javier is well and uninjured. Today he will take a flight to Lahore, next to the Indian border," the message said. "His intentions right now are to continue his journey."
His attempt to cycle around the world began on 1 October when he left Madrid on a journey that took him east through Europe, Turkey and Iran. A profile of Colorado by a Spanish cycling magazine calls him a person who loves to "overcome his fears and test the limits of his abilities".
In March 2013 two female Czech travellers were kidnapped as they travelled through the province. They remain missing but appeared in a video pleading for their freedom in October.
Elsewhere on Wednesday three Germans were reported to be among the dead killed by major air strikes in North Waziristan.
The Pakistani army said the strikes, ordered in retaliation for the killing of 20 troops in a truck bombing incident on Sunday, had killed 40 militants, including the three Germans and large numbers of Uzbeks.
The military assault on militant positions in the troubled district bordering Afghanistan is seen as highly significant. The army has been itching to mount operations in the area but has been held back by the government, which hopes to negotiate a peaceful end to the bloody conflict with militant groups which claimed almost 2,500 lives last year.
Also in the north-west, six police officers and a teenage boy were killed by a bomb hidden in a parked motorbike in Charsadda district. The officers were on their way to guard health workers attempting to administer polio vaccines to children.
Pakistan's stalling efforts to stamp out polio have suffered from a spate of lethal attacks on vaccinators, which have prompted some health workers to go on strike.
Six Pakistani police officers are shot dead protecting Spanish cyclist | World news | theguardian.com
RIP my brave men, may Allah swt be pleased with you and grant you janat ul firdous. Amen.
and Spain should recognize the sacrifice of these men, who died protecting their citizen.
Adventurer Javier Colorado is treated for bullet wound after trying to cycle through one of Pakistan's most dangerous areas
Gunmen shot dead six guards protecting a Spanish cyclist on Wednesday in a violent and remote area of western Pakistan where a bus bomb killed 24 Shi'iteShia pilgrims a day earlier, police said.
The cyclist, who suffered minor wounds, had crossed into Pakistan's western province of Baluchistan from Iran, they said. Six guards were wounded.
Police said they did not know why he was cycling through such a dangerous area. He was assigned the escort by security forces because the province is plagued by kidnappers, Taliban militants, a violent separatist insurgency, sectarian killers, paramilitary death squads and drug traffickers.
Two young Czech women taking the same route by bus were kidnapped in March and are still being held.
The cyclist and his guards were travelling through Mastung district when gunmen attacked. "Six of our security men have been killed trying to save the Spanish cyclist, who has suffered minor injuries," said Shafqat Anwar Shawani, the assistant police commissioner for Mastung district. One attacker was also killed, he said.
In the same district on Tuesday, a bomb targeting a bus killed 24 Shi'iteShia pilgrims, many of them women and children. Such sectarian attacks are increasingly common in Pakistan, where Shi'itesShias make up 20% percent of the 180 million people.
On Wednesday, hundreds of Shi'itesShias protested against the bus bombing by sitting in the road alongside the bodies of the dead in the provincial capital of Quetta.
The community held similar protests demanding protection after bombings last year in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, killed aroundabout 200 people, mostly Shi'itesShias, last year. (Reporting by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Six police officers in Pakistan have beenkilled while fending off a kidnap attempt against a Spanish adventurer attempting to cycle through one of the most dangerous parts of the country.
Javier Colorado, a 27-year-old adventurer on a round-the-world bicycle trip, was travelling with an escort of paramilitary police guards towards Quetta, the provincial capital of insurgency-racked Baluchistan province.
Local officials said six members of the Levies – as the tribal police force is known – had been killed in an exchange of fire while five more were injured.
"Armed men opened indiscriminate firing and wanted to kidnap the foreigner," a local Levies official said.
Colorado was also taken to hospital with a bullet wound, police said. The Spanish foreign ministry said he was released later on Wednesday.
He had been given a police guard after crossing on Tuesday from Iran into Baluchistan, one of Pakistan's most volatile provinces – the focus of attacks by separatist rebels and some of the worst sectarian violence in Pakistan as well as being home to many Taliban militants who use it as a base for attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan.
A foreign tourist would be a valuable prize for any of those groups, as well as for bandits simply motivated by the prospect of a large ransom.
Pakistanis reacted with astonishment that a foreigner was travelling through the area, not least as the attempted kidnapping took place in Mastung, where a bomb attack on a bus carrying Shia pilgrims from Iran had killed 24 people the previous day. The incident had stopped Colorado travelling on towards Quetta on Tuesday.
A message on Colorado's Facebook page posted by relatives said his family "would like to give our appreciation for the attention given by the Spanish consulate in Pakistan".
It suggested he would give the rest of Pakistan a miss.
"We received a call from the embassy that Javier is well and uninjured. Today he will take a flight to Lahore, next to the Indian border," the message said. "His intentions right now are to continue his journey."
His attempt to cycle around the world began on 1 October when he left Madrid on a journey that took him east through Europe, Turkey and Iran. A profile of Colorado by a Spanish cycling magazine calls him a person who loves to "overcome his fears and test the limits of his abilities".
In March 2013 two female Czech travellers were kidnapped as they travelled through the province. They remain missing but appeared in a video pleading for their freedom in October.
Elsewhere on Wednesday three Germans were reported to be among the dead killed by major air strikes in North Waziristan.
The Pakistani army said the strikes, ordered in retaliation for the killing of 20 troops in a truck bombing incident on Sunday, had killed 40 militants, including the three Germans and large numbers of Uzbeks.
The military assault on militant positions in the troubled district bordering Afghanistan is seen as highly significant. The army has been itching to mount operations in the area but has been held back by the government, which hopes to negotiate a peaceful end to the bloody conflict with militant groups which claimed almost 2,500 lives last year.
Also in the north-west, six police officers and a teenage boy were killed by a bomb hidden in a parked motorbike in Charsadda district. The officers were on their way to guard health workers attempting to administer polio vaccines to children.
Pakistan's stalling efforts to stamp out polio have suffered from a spate of lethal attacks on vaccinators, which have prompted some health workers to go on strike.
Six Pakistani police officers are shot dead protecting Spanish cyclist | World news | theguardian.com
RIP my brave men, may Allah swt be pleased with you and grant you janat ul firdous. Amen.
and Spain should recognize the sacrifice of these men, who died protecting their citizen.
